IRON & STARLIGHT
by NekoXyN
Summary: A female dimensional walker, Jiru, falls into the Avengers verse and hooks up with SHIELD. Takes place before, during & after the Avengers Movie. OC/Stark, OC/Loki. Rated teen for maturer content.
1. Prelude

_Prelude:_

_Location: Unknown_

_Everything up to that point was a haze of green; a tantalizing shade of emerald green. The mist, swirling and curling around in those invisible currents of air, drifted slowly in the fog of her mind. Her body felt heavier than what she remembered it to be, but it didn't matter. It surrounded her body in a luxurious wrap. The allure of that green cushion was intoxicating…too intoxicating._

_It was because her mind and body were in that cloudy, drugged state; the cold against her skin took longer to register on her synapses. When the external stimulate finally did penetrate the green haze, the young woman knew she was out of that drift-less element; and thankfully, somewhere else other than the complete starry darkness of the Void. Gravity was working upon her body._

"_What the, what!?" The cerulean-haired young woman thrust herself up into a sitting position. "COLD!"_

_Immediately, she yelped in a cold shock, throwing her arms around herself in a futile attempt to keep her body warm. At the same time, her lagoon-colored eyes snapped open, then shut; blocking out the harsh glare of the sun on the reflective white ground._

"_Too bright…" the clothes on the woman were severely inadequate for the place she was in. Her attire, a cotton green long sleeved shirt and a pair of white – yes white – jeans, covered her body. Her jacket was never there, as was a nice pair of thermal socks. The purple ratty flip-flops on her feet did nothing to keep her toes warm. In short, she was completely not dressed for the frigid environment. "Too cold…"_

_Squinting her eyes slightly open, the young woman could see a plane of ice and snow-covered ground, stretching out towards the horizon. "Great, I'm going to die of hypothermia. I don't even know where I'm at."_

_Turning around slowly, as her teeth started to chatter, the young woman groaned at what she saw behind her – yet more frozen tundra, reaching out towards the opposing horizon. The white and blue line was broken by jagged lumps, possibly a mountainous patch of land. She would freeze before she even took fifteen steps towards those mountains._

"_I'm going to die here, this really sucks." She chattered miserably to herself. "I might as well die trying to save myself."_

_The woman, ignoring the strands of otherworldly-colored-hair whipping in her face, lifted one foot to take that first step towards the mountains in the distance._

_XXX_

_Over North America:  
New York, New York_

_The flash of red and gold could be seen if an eye was positioned just in the right kind of place to see it. However, since the bi-colored iron-made suit was high in the sky, it would be a person's lucky day to even catch a glint of the flying robot-suit. Regardless of being seen or not, the human beneath the dual-colored iron suit was oblivious to his surroundings. Tony Stark, the man behind the machine, was flying high in the sky listening to Black Sabbath on repeat._

"_Sir." The A.I. voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just Another Really Very Intelligent System) interrupted Tony's music._

"_Yes, J.A.R.V.I.S.? What is it?" The black-haired billionaire answered._

"_There is a call waiting for you from Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D." The online Siri-like masculine voice informed its programmer. "This is the fifth time he has tried to reach you, Sir."_

"_Well, I guess I should answer it then, shouldn't?" Tony redundantly asked. With a mental flick of will power, he connected to the line._

"_Damn it, Stark, when will you learn to pick up the first time?" The growling voice of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury aimed itself at the Man of Iron._

"_Today, maybe?" Tony quipped back. "Tomorrow possibly, or perhaps never."_

"_Whatever, Stark. I need you to investigate these coordinates. There was a massive surge of supernova energy just minutes ago, and S.H.I.E.L.D. recognizes it from sixty years back."_

"_Wow, that's great and all, but I don't care." Tony scoffed._

"_I want you to find her and bring her in." Fury's conversation continued._

"_Her? So the supernova energy is female?" Tony sounded intrigued._

"_Yes, and if you decide to stop flying around like a clueless bird, then you just might get to hear a very interesting story." The gruff S.H.I.E.L.D. director baited the hook, and knew that Iron Man would take the mission. "We cannot have her running rampant with her unique energy while the Tesseract is on earth. If they both collide, who knows what will happen."_

"_Ok, fine, I give." Iron Man responded, downloading the information that Nick sent him. "But if I find her and bring her in, she'll be Stark Property."_

"_Heh, I highly doubt she'll go for that, but you can take that up with her when you find her." Fury chuckled. "Just don't underestimate her, Stark, she has serious power and no qualms about using it if she feels threatened."_

"_We'll see, Fury, we'll see." Iron Man related back. "I'll contact you when if find this so called 'Her'. Stark out." Iron Man hung up the line and changed his trajectory to the North Pole. Finding a female who had incredible energy from a star? Tony Stark's curiosity was fully engaged. He'd see who he would find at the coordinates S.H.I.E.L.D. has given him._


	2. Stark Industries

_Chapter 1: Stark Industries_

_One Month Later:_

Stark Tower was the most unique building in the city, and quite intimidating for the young woman to be standing in front of. The eighty-two floors of newly constructed sleek white-painted metal and glass-paneled sides of the tower shimmered in the morning light. The woman craned her head back to look up at the sleek tower and gave a low whistle of awe. She had briefly researched about the place and was surprised to find that the tower was in the process of converting to clean, renewable energy; and as such, was more impressive to her. Bringing her head down, the young woman looked back over her black-clad shoulder to the passing foot-traffic.

She was set apart from the city's sidewalks, as she had come to a stop in the wide white outer concrete grounds that marked the tower's entrance for its multitude of employees. A few people were paused in stride, staring at her. It didn't help that her cerulean-colored hair marked her as different, the long braid trailing down her back to her rear. But the young woman chalked their stares to pure curiosity; after all, who wouldn't want to see things happen at the newly built Stark Tower. Sighing to herself, she shook her head and turned to face the double glass doors of the company that called her in for an interview.

The interview call-in which brought her here had awoken her this morning as the owner of Stark Industries had somehow gotten her apartment phone number. The man had called time and time again until she had answered the stupid thing. Tony Stark wanted to interview her for a job at his gleaming new tower. The call had been unexpected, since she hadn't put in any applications in there. In fact, she had just moved into the city, fifteen days back and really didn't have anything to show on any résumé, let alone apply anywhere. It apparently didn't matter to the blatantly handsome billionaire playboy philanthropist; he called her in to fill a job, and so she would answer the call and show up.

After all, it was just rude to ignore one's very wealthy sponsor. The billionaire had taken her under his wing and set her up with the basic amenities of the city: a pent house apartment, high-quality food, fancy clothes, high-tech gizmos and other things she really had no decent use for. Tony Stark had literally paid for everything she had, even the clothes she was wearing at the moment; which brought her mind back to the task at hand: the interview.

"Well, I might as well go in and do the interview." She muttered to herself, shaking out of her thoughts. "Let's do it!" However, before she could walk towards the fancy new glass doors, the she felt a strong hand on the small of her back.

"Good morning, babe. You look fantastic." The voice of none other than Anthony Stark came from behind her.

The young woman whipped around to face the billionaire for the first time in fifteen days. What she found was nothing she expected. Anthony Stark stood very close behind her, close enough that she almost brush her nose against his chin; getting a strong whiff of his cologne. She stepped back with a slight blush on her face. He was a man who inspired other women to throw themselves at him. The billionaire was dressed casually in an ecru-colored polo silk shirt. The probably insanely expensive and nicely pressed pants – taupe colored – fluttered slightly in the wind. Shining black dress shoes completed his ensemble.

"Ah, ah, eyes up here, Superstar." His husky voice told her again. She lifted her lagoon-hued eyes into blue ones. He was smiling broadly at her, his facial hair impeccably groomed and looking so sexy on him.

"What is your major malfunction, you pervert?" She muttered, looking away and feeling embarrassed – and weak – at his innuendo. His response wasn't what she wanted: the billionaire had heard her, tossed his head back and laughed.

"Jiru, babe, you are a barrel of laughs." The dark-haired man stopped his laughter as he looked down at the shorter woman, his eyes shining with mirth. He had removed his fashionable sunglasses onto his head so the bright sunlight wouldn't reflect into her eyes and blind her. He studied her intensely.

"Why do you have to get into my personal space, Mr. Stark?" The woman, Jiru, inquired the touchy-feely philanthropist, turning away from the sharp gaze.

"Ah, well, because I know you like it, Starburst." Tony moved his hand upward, to rest around her shoulders. "Which is why you haven't slapped me across the face yet."

"Whatever." Jiru's embarrassment switched to low-tone ire. Tony didn't hear her as the billionaire bodily guided her into the building.

"Welcome to Stark Tower, Sparkles." Tony gestured with a side-ways sweep of his arm. "In all its grand, new glory. Do you like it? Of course you like it, it's new and shiny."

Inside the grandeur Stark Tower, things were busy. People in black, white, navy-blue (and even an orange) suits and were striding all over the place. Many hands held electronic devices and dark stylusi; paper was nowhere to be seen. Heels and men's shoes clacked and clipped on the blue-white marble flooring as those device-focused people went to and fro different places. The building was new, as Stark said, so everything was hectic and busy.

"Good morning Mr. Stark." A feminine voice came from Jiru's right; being directed to the man draped on her left. Looking over, she found the owner of the voice; an older woman wearing a black Armani suit with white undertones of skirt and shirt. Her grayed hair was tightly coiled into a bun and pinned back harshly on her head. The woman looked like a mean old thing; like somebody's grandmother gone bad.

"Ah, good morning Mrs. Yalesworth." Tony replied flippantly to the elderly lady rushing up to them. "You have my schedule for today?"

"Yes of course, Mr. Stark." The woman smiled brightly at Mr. Stark; keeping her death glare for the young woman on Stark's arm. "Here it is, Sir." The woman handed an electronic pad to Tony, which he took to look at. A few other business men and women joined the first and queued around the man.

Jiru sighed to herself as the billionaire engaged the sleek black digital device and the growing group of people; the billionaire probably had other things to do than waste his time on her. Stepping away from Stark, she looked around the lobby area of the business. The interior was really classy enough to provide a statement: a statement which said the building was high-end and cutting edge in trend. From white marble floors to real plants to black snazzy front desks, the lobby had been decorated very elegantly; which made her think she was completely inferior to the high-class standards that Stark Industries put out. The paintings on one wall alone looked to cost more than her net worth; which was to be expected because she currently didn't have a dime to her name. She sighed to herself and waited patiently, because she had nothing else to do. Just what the billionaire-genius who had rescued her from a freezing death wanted from her was beyond comprehension.

XXX

Tony Stark glanced briefly over to the cerulean-haired young woman who wore the elegant black company-uniform: a white blousy shirt, with a knee-length black skirt with a matching black cardigan. She was a short little thing, just barely reaching five foot. Everything about her was mediocre, yet unique. Her face was round, yet kissable, her lagoon-green eyes sharp and attentive. Her small breasts gave off slight, alluring curves that made her just enough to be a lithe woman; over all she was small and thin, yet had enough muscle/fat to give her slim curves. The press would have an aneurism by the end of the day when the public would find out he hired this unique woman to fill a position at the new Stark Tower. The one thing about her that drew everybody's attention was her hair. Her hair was naturally cerulean in color, and it was absolutely beautiful on her.

Every since he first 'met' her when he had rescued her in the frigid wasteland of the Arctic, Tony had to have her near him, because she was completely fascinating. S.H.I.E.L.D. had classified her as dangerous, but the Man of Iron didn't care. The heir to Stark Industries was going uncover just what made her so special; enough so that she had gained the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The only reason it took longer to get her in, was because her legal papers just came in that morning, finally making her a natural US citizen. Tony himself had set everything up for the woman because, like the S.H.I.E.L.D. files stated, she wasn't born on US soil. She hadn't even been born on the planet, but that was something the public didn't need to know.

"So, Superstar, you ready for this interview?" He finished playing fake with being immersed in the digital schedule he had already memorized. He waved away the company groupies who had gathered around him; most likely to stare at the new girl. The business of the new tower would just have to go on without him today.

"I'm sorry, what?" the young woman turned towards him and looking startled. Tony loved the look of innocent-confusion in her lagoon-green eyes. He felt himself getting a hard on right there. This was one hell of physical attraction case, and he found it rather invigorating. He would love to explore every natural inch of her body.

"The interview; Miss Jiru, are you ready?" Tony coughed and moved to avoid a rather embarrassing situation for the both of them. With company flunkies around and staring at the both of them, it wouldn't be wise to satiate his lust then and there. He would take care of that when he managed to get her on the still-under-construction top floor pent-house suite.

"Oh, right. The interview." She smiled softly and nodded. Tony felt his knees go weak. "I'm ready."

"I bet you are, Short-Stuff." Stark chuckled to himself. Then, as he motioned her to follow him, Stark made towards the elevators. He grabbed another digital pad off the main desk as they passed by and, with quick fingers, pulled up just the application he wanted. A personal questionnaire that he tailor-made for the intriguing woman he had found in the Arctic.

"Hey, Starburst, on our way up I want you to answer a few questions on this, alright?"

"Um, ok." She answered evenly. The woman took the digital pad and looked at it.

Jiru looked at the digital pad that Tony had handed her. The device itself was way beyond awesome, as the semi-solid screen sat between two black sticks. Apparently, whatever the two black sticks held between/in them was enough to display a digital touch screen. Technology in this dimension was way beyond her expectations. Then again, Stark Industries was beyond everybody on the planet. This dimension was the third such type she had encountered with such hi-end tech. After going through thirty different dimensions, she shouldn't have been that surprised by technology. Sighing to herself before focusing on the data-screen of questions, Jiru just went with the flow. Great, these questions were the regular normal application questions; such as name, address, zip code, phone number – something she had yet to memorize. Just what was she to use as a last name?

"Uhm…Mr. Stark?" Jiru hesitantly looked over to the drop-dead sexy billionaire next to her. He had not only held open the elevator doors for her, but now stood extremely close. He was attractive enough to bring a blush to her cheeks; she was always a sucker for the handsome men with devious personalities; which Stark fit to a T.

"Please, Superstar, call me Tony." The dark-haired man smiled brightly at her. Jiru mentally swayed, weak in the knees: Damn the man for having such a gorgeous smile.

"Why are you calling me Superstar?" She asked, lowering the questionnaire device. "I mean…I don't get it."

"Of course you don't Sparkles. You have a slight inferiority-complex, also known as over-modesty. You have the mindset of being intellectually inferior to others, which we'll have to work on because you are one smart cookie." Tony turned his head to her and psychoanalyzed. "Don't get me wrong, babe, but I'd like for you to really open yourself up and shine. You would be absolutely amazing."

Upon hearing what he said, she felt the heat rise in her cheeks. He was tossing her heavy-duty compliments and picking her apart so casually. It was nearly too much for her system to handle. Jiru had been feeling very rushed and intimidated by the crazy environment of the large city and now the close proximity of a man who played her hormones like an instrument.

"Thanks…I guess." She whispered in answer.

"What was that, Sparkles?" Tony had turned away from her, but now looked at her again.

"I said thanks." She repeated.

"No problem."

A stretch of silence grew between them as the elevator car continued its upward movement. Jiru lifted her digital form up again when Tony broke the silence.

"You really are quite something." His left hand came out of his pant pocket in order to reach over to her face – since she was a half-head shorter than Stark. With rather a soft touch, Tony ran his finger over her right temple and some of her hair. "I was up long hours reading up on your files."

"My…files?" Jiru lowered the data screen again and gave the Man of Iron a blank look. "What files?"

His statement took a few seconds for her to process, but when it did, she stepped away from Tony Stark and felt the first tiny neurons of her brain fire panic impulses. "I…don't have any files here…"

"…on this world, right." Tony finished for her. "Don't worry about it at all, Sparkles. It's ok. I know you're not from around here. You're what, an alien visitor?"

"…" Jiru felt her breath quicken as her body began to shake. All her systems were going haywire: somebody in this dimension…on the planet…_KNEW ABOUT HER ALREADY_!

With a sigh of resignation, Tony turned fully towards her, placing both his hands on her black-clad shoulders. The tremor he felt beneath his hands gave him cause to be concerned. "You ok, Superstar?"

"No…I'-m…not." Jiru hissed before the rush of blood turned her vision white, then black, casting her into unconsciousness.

XXX

"_Lovey…" A masculine voice echoed throughout the dark expanse. "You know you cannot escape me, lovey."_

"_Who are you?" Jiru called out, not fully comprehending what was going on. "Where am I?"_

"_You know full well who I am, my dear." The silky-catty voice was behind her ears now. She spun around, seeing no one there. "I'm the reason you're even on Midgard right now, and you have the gall to allow another man to touch you?"_

"_What, why are you asking me this?" she found herself stepping back, seeking to flee the overwhelming urge of dominance roiling from the darkness all around her. This had to be a dream, because she had never felt such undiluted, raw emotion in waking life._

"_I OWN you, lovey, and you dare to forsake my assistance!" The voice slithered into her ears again, freezing her in place. "Do not ever forget that I rescued you from those bastards, lovey, otherwise I just might have to remind you of your place."_

"_GO AWAY! You're scaring me." Came her response. The darkness flickered and slowly morphed to green. The undiluted dominance she felt lessened and transformed into seduction. The flowing green mono-scape whirled around her, cradling from all sides, pressing against her skin._

"_Are you frightened, my little queen?" A figure coalesced from the green-scape. A masculine figure condensed into symmetry as his dark hair whirled into existence, long black locks ending just below his cloaked shoulders. Green eyes bore into hers as the rest of his body slowly formed into something recognizable; dark leather shirt, a wide green sash under a flowing green-lined cape and dark-tan leather pants. The man's body wasn't quite lithe enough to be considered bony, but his muscle structure was undoubtedly well-formed and nicely packed. His facial profile was smooth and his smile, sharp and mischievous._

"_My Little Queen." The mocking voice emitted from his sensuous mouth. "You have forgotten, haven't you?"_

"_I…don't remember." Her lagoon-green eyes were entrapped by his pure green orbs. "Please…who are you?"_

"_My Lovey…you cannot escape me. Submit to me and rescue yourself." the man lifted a hand to touch her face, drawing a finger along her temple. That contact felt ice-cold, giving an echoing crack, like breaking ice, into the silent green darkness. Jiru could feel her skin changing color, from tan to ice-blue – syncing with the man's own skin metamorphosis: only his skin-tone went from flesh to dark blue. Whatever he was doing, it felt utterly…primaly…natural – and oh so erotic…_


	3. SHIELD

_Chapter 2: S.H.I.E.L.D._

"NO!" Jiru bolted up to sit, and inhaling air into her lungs like her life depended on it.

"Well, really. I swear I was only thinking it, Sparkles." To her left, a familiar voice teased her. Looking for the voice's owner, she saw Tony Stark sitting in a dark green chair, a squat glass in hand, which contained an amber liquid; alcohol no doubt. He smiled at her and gave a wink. "Have a nice nap, Superstar?"

"Well, welcome back to the land of the living, kid." Another masculine voice added, pulling her attention beyond Stark. A dark-skinned face stared back at her. The man was oblivious a black American (or whatever they called themselves now-a-days), and looked tough as hell: the eye-patch over his left eye only added to the effect. His clothes were dark, like him, and made the statement of mega-bad ass. (The long duster leather jacket only cinched the statement louder.) He leaned forward to gaze at her as his fingers came together under his chin.

"We were beginning to worry about you, Miss Jiru." A third voice joined the first two. Again, Jiru looked further her current vision-field to see a new face. The man, Caucasian, dressed sharp as a tack in his black business suit; had a very short brown hairstyle that went beautifully with his blue-brown eyes. He had a rather normal face, but the emotion it held was anything but. His smile was disarming and showed his concern. "You were out for a few hours."

"Hours?" She subconsciously checked the day's lighting and found the statement to be true. The light produced longer shadows than what she had arrived to the tower in. It looked to be four or five in the afternoon; which would mean she had been out for five hours.

"Yea, you were a regular Sleeping Beauty." A fourth voice interrupted the sharply-dressed agent man. Jiru turned her face towards the source and coughed twice. The dude, another Caucasian, was muscled enough to be considered hunky. Wearing a black leather-looking sleeveless tunic that matched his rugged, scruffy looking pants, the male figure was busy staring out the wall of windows that gave a panoramic view of the city's building tops. His reflection showed her a handsome, roguish looking face with sharp black-brown eyes and serious expression; scanning out the glass over the city. The afternoon sun illuminated his profile in such a way that she immediately took a liking to him. She always fell for the sexy looking types: physical attraction at its finest. She would bet her life that he was a rogue.

"Sleeping Beauty, huh?" the cerulean-haired woman gave a small smile, feeling rather snarky-flirty. "You mean between a hunk like you and Sexy Stark over here, it didn't occur to you to kiss me awake?"

Stark was holding his amber-liquid filled glass to his mouth when she said this. The billionaire choked twice before spraying his drink all over the low table before him. The suited man blinked and allowed his brows to raise a fraction of an inch, looking at her with un-phased eyes. Eye-patchy was holding his face in his hands, shaking his head in annoyance while the fourth male spun around, glaring incredulously at her statement.

"What the hell?" the dark-eyed man sputtered, at a loss for words. Jiru smiled at him and spoke on.

"What's the matter, Birdie? Cat got your tongue?" She quipped back, suddenly feeling rather stupid to put herself as the focused attention. "I don't know your name, but I have a huge urge to call you Birdie."

"Well, f*ck me ten ways till Sunday; Fury. You absolutely CANNOT have her now." Tony continued to cough, trying to clear the sudden intake of scotch in the wrong pipe. "You, my dear Superstar, have just made my day. Hell, you've made my entire week." He lightly pounded on his upper chest in attempts to assist with the clearance of liquid. Stark looked at her full in the eyes. "I'm keeping you, Sparkles, if you're going to throw snarky comments around like that."

"What? It's the truth Tony; Birdie is really hot-looking right now. He's…got no sleeves on." Jiru continued to speak before thinking, feeling the stupid catching up to her. "Oh geez, I'm such a dumb-ass…I'll just shut up now." She tore her eyes away from the four men and planted her face in her up-curled knees. It was then she calculated just where she was: a dark green couch, six feet long, held her sitting frame; a red blanket covering her lower torso. Her body felt muzzy, like she had been sleeping too long against her internal bio-clock. Inhaling deeply, she took a more thorough evaluation of her surroundings.

The penthouse level was long, spacious and very elite; dark granite floors, expensive furniture – six dark-olive colored chairs, a dark green long-couch (the one she was one) and an oak three-by-six foot low drink table centered in the pool of goldenrod pebbles. On the other side of the room was a decorous bar, most likely supplied to the tooth with drinks. She couldn't figure out what area was held on her right, since a wall stood between her and her vision. The place still had signs of being constructed and a white tarp peeked out from behind the wall.

"I'm adamant on that, Fury, you can't have her." Tony was now addressing the annoyed black-man. "So you can just leave with that paperwork I know you've brought and don't let the door hit you on the way out."

"Stark…shut-up." Fury lifted his head to glare at the billionaire. "One more fancy word from either one of your mouths, Stark…Miss…I'll have both of you incarcerated for insubordination."

"Sorry…" Jiru squeaked, feeling the blood heat in her face. "I'll shut up now, Mr. Fury."

"It's Director Fury to you, kid." He corrected her.

"Sir…" The quiet agent-looking man finally spoke up.

"Yes, Agent Coulson…"

"It's true then?" The man, now identified as Coulson, asked further. "That Miss Jiru has…"

"Yes, Agent Coulson, she has returned to grace us with her presence, and therefore, we are here to remind her of the restrictions on her…powers."

"Restrictions?" Tony had fully recovered now and quirked a brow at Fury. "You mean to tell me she's dangerous enough to be put on 'restrictions'? What powers?!"

"See for yourself, Stark…" Fury sighed, removing a large manila folder from within his deceivingly tight overcoat. He then tossed it on the drink table. The folder was stamped with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo in blatantly red ink. Papers spilled out of the folder, incurring Tony to lean forward to peruse the interesting words. The man she nicknamed Birdie was curious enough to bring himself over to the group. The buff-looking guy gave her a small berth and remained standing, looking down at the splayed files. The Man of Iron finally gave in and reached forward to scoop up a handful of those files, bringing them closer to read.

"This young lady here was the cause of the Great Blackout back in the mid-60's. S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to pick her up, along with what caused the Black Out, but apparently she didn't like the way we 'conducted' our handling of herself. We ended up discovering she wasn't a local. She ended up flash-freezing one of our first facilities because we were none too friendly with our 'biological interviews'." Fury spoke on. "I am not at liberty to discuss the details of her DNA, it's written in those files; but it was confirmed that she did vanish from existence, leaving behind the thing that caused the blackout; which is also classified."

"Damn, Sparkles, just how old are ya?" Tony asked half-heartedly, once again picking up his drink.

"Thirty." She answered, feeling another blush rising up her neck. "I swear."

"Hm-hm." Tony hummed, and continued to read, shuffling through the papers with growing avid interest. He must have been reading on the unspoken details of her time with S.H.I.E.L.D. back in the 60's. Everything must have been in there, including how she was classified as an alien threat because of her energy-manipulation powers and her unique DNA: a three-lined helix; which was one more strand than normal a human DNA. Her prior experience with S.H.I.E.L.D. was dark and scary. Jiru sighed, shaking away the awful thoughts before they invaded her mind and lifted her head as she felt the attention shift away from her.

"Miss Jiru." Looking up to meet Coulson's dark eyes, she was surprised to find him sitting on the couch near her feet. He was looking at her with open eyes and a tilted head.

"May…I help you?" She asked, hesitantly; not yet trusting the man's close proximity. To her, he was a stranger and made her uncomfortable. It was her norm to be socially uncomfortable around strangers.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you, Miss Jiru." The now-interested agent smiled kindly to her and offered his hand to shake. "I know your first experience with S.H.I.E.L.D. was a negative thing, but I hope your second time is much better. My name is Phil Coulson, and I proudly serve S.H.I.E.L.D. as an agent. The other agent is Clint Barton, and he too, works for S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Hi, I guess." She offered a returning smile and placed her hand in his, allowing him to shake her hand. She turned her eyes to Birdie/Clint and gave an embarrassed smile.

"I know it's very difficult to be alone like you have, but if it's possible, I'd like to be a friend." Coulson continued to offer soothing words to the cerulean-haired woman. She removed her hand from his as what he said slowly processed in her mind. Coulson was verbally disarming enough for her to not feel threatened.

"I…would very much like to have a friend, Mr. Coulson." Jiru said after a few moments of thought. "I assume you know that I-"

"That you come from another dimension, yes." The brown-haired agent nodded. "I've read your files extensively; every word of your interview and history. I disagree how S.H.I.E.L.D. interrogated you for that information, but I promise you that I will not let anyone do that to you again."

"That's a steep promise to give, Mr. Coulson." Jiru tilted her head and focused on the man. Was it just her, or did these people have a skill that allowed them to psychoanalyze her with just a look.

"Please, call me Phil." He offered.

"Okay. Phil. I…you're not here to try and dissect me…again?"

"Of course not, Director Fury here just wanted to check to see if it was really you producing the odd energy readings." The agent shook his head.

"Oh."

"Agent Coulson, if you are done introducing yourself to the young lady, then I would like a word with her." Fury's even-toned voice cut into their conversation. Jiru turned her gaze towards the director.

"Fury, I am dead set on keeping her." Tony Stark interrupted them and held out a set of three papers. "Sparkles, why didn't you tell me you had an internalized power source?!" the billionaire turned to her and quirked a brow.

"A what?"

"Your power source, babe, I wanna see it." Stark pressed further, gesturing with both his eyes and hands. "It says here your powers come from an adamant-organic source…diamonds. How in the hell did you manage that!"

"I…" Jiru stumbled over words. How would she even begin to explain?

"Yes, about that Stark, not one bloody word of it leaves this room." Fury ordered as he leaned back into his chair. "Her…power source is like your Arc Reactor – revolutionary – and extremely powerful. Unlike you, she doesn't have a personal protection suit."

"Tell me about it." Tony smiled, dazzling her. Standing up and moving over to the cerulean haired woman, he tossed back the rest of his drink and motioned for her to stand up. "No, seriously, tell me about it."

"Well…I…" Jiru gave up fighting her red-faced condition and looked away from those laser focused eyes, not standing up. "Diamonds…yes, well-."

"Yea, just how does she get her powers from…" Here, finally, Clint Barton spoke up. "…a diamond, Fury?"

"Ask her, hell if I know." The director answered. "It's all magic and cooking science to me."

"Well, princess?" Clint turned his hawk-eyes on her, his overwhelming curiosity evident on his face.

"I…don't know." Jiru squirmed under the four's scrutiny.

"Oh come now, Supernova, you can tell your Tony now, can't you?" Stark shooed Agent Coulson away from her. The sexy genius plopped down next to the shy woman and clonked his scotch glass down on the table. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

"Stark…" Fury groaned again at the sexually-loaded statement. "I hardly think that is going to help the situation."

"Tut-tut." Stark brushed off Fury's comment and turned back to the woman next to him. "Ignore them, Superstar. Tell me at least where you've hidden this powerful diamond of yours."

"I'm not sure-"

Tony shook his head and reached up to his shirt, unbuttoning and holding it apart to reveal the glowing-blue circle set into his upper chest. The Arc Reactor glowed a steady blue – its small illumination soft like a dim LED light. The edges of the round device were lost almost in the blue glow. The triangular hole in the middle was the brightest.

"God, Stark, you'd do anything to get her into bed, wouldn't you." Barton growled out and dropped his face into his own hands. "You are such a bastard."

"I…" Jiru was now completely red in the face as Tony sat there, giving her a full dose of his masculine chest. Her eyes were glued on that chest, and its glowing arc reactor. "Wow."

"Isn't it fantastic? I know you love things that glow, Sparkles, so I want to know all about yours." Tony gave her a freaky-lusty look, like she was going to be his new toy.

"I…" Her eyes focused on the glowing Arc light.

"Oh that is just disturbing, she's actually zoning out over your chest, Stark." Barton snarled and bolted up from his chair, moving back to his position by the window-wall.

"Ok…try talking to me with your eyes up here, Superstar." Tony placed his hands on either side of her face and gently guided her face away from his chest. "Tell me about your diamond."

"My diamond…" Her mind was torn away from its social defenses and numb from the overdose of man-chest. The mind-numbness actually helped her to speak her story. "It's broken and in pieces, they're scattered in different dimensions and I have to find the shards to reconstruct it. That's why I'm a dimensional-walker…I'm lost and can't find my way home again without the whole diamond, which is like a talisman of power."

"Very interesting, go on…" Stark sat still, his hands remaining on her face to keep her focused. "So you go around searching for these diamond shards…"

"Yea, I've been following them for years now – years of my original time-set." Jiru's brain caught up with her thoughts and her eyes unglazed over as she focused on what she was saying. "I followed a shard's energy signature to this dimension…this planet, but S.H.I.E.L.D. got to it first and didn't give it back when I asked for it."

"I see." The now-serious billionaire dropped his hands and gave a quick, harsh glance to Fury. "So that's why you busted up the facility back in the 60's and ran?"

"No…you see…I kind of…died." Jiru lowered her voice; the pain of speaking the truth caused her throat to tighten.


	4. Power Source

_Chapter 3: Power Source_

"I don't believe you, Superstar." Tony leaned back and gave her an odd look, the seriousness of his face vanishing as his many facial neutral masks slid into place. "In fact, I am going to ignore your answer."

"What?" She looked confused.

"I don't believe you died, Sparkles. Otherwise you wouldn't be here right now." He stood up and grabbed his glass from the table. "That is, unless you are a zombie; and I highly doubt that, because I have such a hard-on for you at the moment, and I don't do dead chicks."

"Stark, I doubt this is going to help the situation." Fury cut in.

"The f*ck if I care." Stark stalked over to the other side of the room, directly towards the bar and helped himself to the wide array of drinks housed there. Then, turning around to stare at the trio sitting in the furniture across the room, the billionaire spoke on. "You have the gall to bring this lovely young woman to my attention, and then push her into confessing a rather painful past – which your precious S.H.I.E.L.D. was responsible for – and finally, expect me to believe a word she says about her dying?"

"What the hell f*ck is wrong with you, Stark?" Fury now was on his feet, striding over to the billionaire casually leaning against the bar. "You read her files; you know how much of a threat she is. Hell, Stark, she flash-CRYOGENIZED a whole facility, which was well over one hundred and forty-five f*cking acres. In the desert."

"I'm sure she had good reason." Tony quipped. If anyone who knew Stark, they knew the man was furious inside, fuming over several different angles of several different issues at the same time. Something about Fury attacking the cerulean-haired woman was making Tony angry.

"Damn it Stark, we need to bring her in and-" Fury started.

"Take her in and what? Dissect her like a high-school biology frog? Put her in a deep dark cage far below ground so her 'powers' aren't threatening enough?" Tony's voice upped a notch. "Excuse me if I seem hesitant to let THAT happen. S.H.I.E.L.D. seems fond of doing that to people beyond their control."

"She's got all this power, Stark, and nothing is going to stop her from using it." Fury's voice also rose, as the argument between the two men heated up. "I'll be damned if I let a threat like her move around unchecked."

"Uh, yea; but no." Tony said again; verbally denying the director's words.

Across the penthouse room, Jiru finally removed the red blanket from her lower torso and sliding her feet off the couch and onto the floor. She had been thrown off by both Stark's apathetic/defensive reaction and Fury's comments on how much he didn't trusted her and her powers. It hurt. It was all so confusing to organize her thoughts while the two men were arguing whether or not to lock her away like some super-powered freak. She should be used to the distrust the locals gave her when they found out what she was; but here, on a planet where she had been before, receiving distrust again hit closer to home.

"Miss Jiru?" Agent Coulson was back at her side, at her elbow. "Are you ok?"

"Yea, no, I'm fine. I'm just feeling…overwhelmed."

"Why?" Coulson was honestly confused.

"This is the first time I've returned to the same dimension – the same planet – like this, so I don't know what to think. Now I'm not even sure of how I left and came back here in the first place. The diamond, it's like a symbiotic life-form, doesn't really let me 'die'. It just places me in stasis. I hate to cause trouble like this."

"Oh."

"Well, you're here now, princess, so don't screw anything up like – say – reality." Clint fired his barbed comment at her. He too, had finished reading her files, and was impressed and more than slightly fearful. This girl had way too much power at her disposal. The symbiotic diamond granted her access to energy that possibly came from supernovas. Who knew how far advanced her mind was with raw-star-power.

"What the hell is your problem?" Jiru shot to her feet and faced the second agent. Clint shot to his feet and backed away slowly, holding his hands up to show he was unarmed.

"What are you so afraid of?" She hissed between her teeth. "You weren't scared of me before reading those papers, Birdie."

"To be absolutely honest: you, kid. You're special enough without access to raw star energy." Fury pulled away from his argument with Tony and faced her. "I hate the fact that you are blatantly unaware of just how big a mess you've made for me to clean up. You're like a spoiled child playing with bombs."

"A mess?" Jiru blinked, feeling her anger deflate fast.

"Say what?" Tony mimicked her and stood away from the counter. "When did she manage to make a mess big enough for S.H.I.E.L.D. to step in and fix?"

"The moment she re-arrived on this planet, Stark." Fury snapped over his shoulder. The S.H.I.E.L.D. director stalked across the room and came to a stop in front of the woman. "We weren't expecting you to return, kid – dead or alive. And since you HAVE returned, this creates me a problem."

"I….didn't have a choice in coming back." Jiru was intimidated by the overbearing director and his angry body language. She stepped back and averted her eyes. "You had a shard and it pulled me back here."

"Of course it did." the one-eyed bad-ass man looked down at her. "It's a good thing S.H.I.E.L.D. knew how to close the little dimensional rift you left in the Arctic."

"Dimensional rift?" Her eyes turned back up to Fury, rather surprised to hear him talk about dimensional rifts.

"Yes, dimensional rifts, kid. It took S.H.I.E.L.D. eight years to close your previous two. Stark is right, you didn't die – you just side-stepped into another reality: which makes me consider you a high-class threat/risk."

"Fury, you step away from her right now." Tony was right behind Fury and stepped in to save the damsel he viewed as being very distressed. "I'm going to press harassment charges if you don't stop messing with my stuff."

"Stark, I'm somehow not threatened by your useless lawsuits." Fury retorted, before speaking to her again. "Yet, we still have a world-class problem to address, kid."

"Well, explain it to me then, Patchy, because I as hell DON'T see her as a problem." Stark snarled back. "Not at all THAT kind of problem…"

"Is it…because I came back…" Jiru slowly spoke up the moment a silent pause came. "Because of the starburst diamond…and I can side-step planes of reality?"

"Yes, that's half the problem, kid." Fury sighed in aggravation, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "You've got access to way too much power for me to let you run around unchecked. The other half is the fact you're here again. S.H.I.E.L.D. was created to protect Earth from external threats. If you aren't the only one who can 'side-step' realities, then we have a problem."

"Damn it, Director Fury, I didn't choose to become lost in the dimensional soup, OR have my power source shattered like glass. But it happened and not only do I have to DEAL the f*ck with the fact I'm lost, I have to continuously fight people like your power-hungry S.H.I.E.L.D. posse to reclaim what is rightfully mine!"

"Yea – about that, Superstar, I'm still curious about that diamond." Tony cut it, bringing his arms up to hold his chin while he thought; his eyes staring at her steadily. "You say your diamond is…was…is in pieces, maybe I can help you fix it."

"What?" Jiru asked, turning to Stark. "You, fix something like a starburst diamond?"

"Well, yea, I am Tony Stark after all." He smiled again.

The topmost level of Stark Tower was quiet for a few minutes as everyone within the penthouse room whirled in their own thoughts. Clint Barton was stalking along the wall of windows, his fingers twitching with the urge to curl around his archery set. Director Fury was standing rigid, still looking at the cerulean-haired woman fiercely. Tony was studying at her with avid interest, the gears inside his head turning at insane speeds. Agent Coulson was still standing next to her, arms at rest but mind sharp and analyzing. None of the men were full-tilt tense, but Fury and Barton had triggers ready if the she made any threatening moves.

"I'll take that offer, Tony. You can study the diamond fragments I have." Jiru broke the silence after mentally making her decision. "But I don't expect you to fix it, since who knows how many more shards I have to collect."

"Fantastic." His face lit up once again as he dropped his arms, stepping towards her. Stark's dazzling smile made her knees nearly buckle as she reached up to her chest. "J.A.R.V.I.S., start a biological scan of a female specimen, height, five foot."

~Yes Sir.~ The A.I. voice came from all around the room. Jiru squeaked as a blue line scanned her body.

"Without the fragment in me, Fury, I won't really have any powers to freeze anything or 'side-step' reality." Her hand paused over the middle of her chest; watching the blue light run over her face, then down her body. Just how was he able to scan her without anything visible moving? Technology was great here.

"How very interesting, kid." The director relaxed ever so slightly. "What powers WOULD you be stuck with if you gave up your source?"

"I…don't know."

"You don't know." His voice mimicked her statement, only with more depth, as if he disliked her answer. "You mean to tell me you don't know what powers will or will not remain with you if you give up your diamond."

"Yea, got a problem with that?" She snarked back. "I really hate your mister high-mighty hoity-toity attitude right now, Patchy. Stop calling me kid." Here, Tony Stark's hand flew up to cover his smiling mouth to keep himself from breaking out into laughter. "Shut up Stark; this is the first freaking time I've ever voluntarily handed over my talisman."

"Indeed." Fury turned away from her and moved over to the table, shoving the spread files of her folder back into its container. "We will need to document any and all powers you are able to use; with and/or without the diamond."

"Superstar, the diamond…" Tony coughed into his hand.

"Whatever." Jiru rolled her eyes and pressed her five fingers against her lower sternum, muttering a foreign language. Her eyes closed she felt the bottom of her sternum twitch and move; allowing the hidden substance to remove itself and move upward towards her mouth. Then, with a gagging hack, Jiru expelled her diamond fragment into her hand.

The jewel was the size of a quarter, and glittering in the afternoon light, the gem's fire was absolutely brilliant. It had to be the most perfectly cut diamond any of the men had ever seen; except the fact it looked only one-fourth complete; like someone had cut it into fourths; leaving the edges jagged.

"Holy sh*t, that was disgusting." Clint coughed suddenly. "I'm not going to be terrified of some chick who makes herself vomit diamonds."

"Uhm, here, Superstar, why don't you wipe that off with…" Tony looked rather flustered as he searched for something to hold the diamond fragment in.

"Sh*t, kid…" Fury slapped his face in annoyance. "I really don't understand why we consider you a threat; you are completely random."

"Here, I have something, Miss Jiru." Coulson jumped to the rescue and pulled out a piece of cloth from his pant pocket, presumably a handkerchief.

"Thanks, P.C." Jiru turned around and accepted the cloth from the agent. "Wow, you're really prepared."

"I do try, Miss Jiru." He answered her. "I would prefer you not to ever try that stunt again. It was most disturbing."

"I'll try not to, P.C." She looked abashed. "I didn't mean to gross everyone out." Her hands placed the diamond fragment on the cloth and looked down at it.

"Superstar, why don't you go wash that off…" Stark hinted rather casually. "Then we can see what makes it tick."

"Ok, fine."

"You know this doesn't quite get you off the hook, Miss Jiru." Fury had cleaned up the papery mess that was her folder off the table and turned to her and Tony. "I'm still sticking with my original plan."

"Yea?" Tony scowled at the black man. "She's not joining your super secret boy band either."

"As a matter of fact, Stark; she has no choice." Fury stated evenly. "As of today, Miss Jiru, you work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Since Stark has been so kind to take you under his wing, it'll be up to him to outfit you in something that can help moderate the powers you get from your diamond."

Jiru was walking towards the bar sink to clean her diamond fragment when Fury announced this. The dimensional woman stopped in her tracks and looked directly at him, her mouth parted in astonishment.

"Agent Coulson will be on hand to help you through any informational gaps you may have. There are huge cultural differences from the mid-60's Miss Jiru, I expect you to learn and adhere to them." Fury continued speaking as he signaled to both agents before walking towards the elevator of the penthouse level. "You will be staying in the apartment flat Mr. Stark has already set up you in and will report to Agent Coulson every evening on your progress. Any questions?"

"Uh, yea, Patchy." Tony jumped in. "I have tons of questions; such as: WHY ME!?"

"Forget it, Stark, you are NOT allowed to brush this off. She WILL be assigned anywhere I want her to be. It just so happens you've kindly given me the perfect opportunity to get her set up and started. I know you're ever so ready to delve into her schematics, and I'm absolutely sure you'll have the best f*cking time of your life analyzing her energy-source."

Fury, Coulson and Barton all moved into the downward going elevator. "Good luck to you Stark, try not to mess this up."

"FURY WAIT!" Tony whined.

"And Miss Jiru…welcome back to Earth." Fury gave the woman a polite smile just as the elevator doors closed.


	5. Birds of a Feather

_Chapter 4: Birds of a Feather_

_Stark's rented apartment:_

"Rise and shine, Chirpie." A man's voice cut deep into her R.E.M. sleep, causing her to flinch like a zapped fish. The level of light her closed eyes registered increased; like somebody had thrown open the blinds on the windows.

"Hhmmmm…" Jiru grumbled, and flopped over to the other side of plush king-sized bed.

"Princess…" the masculine voice called to her again. "Don't make me come and get you out of that bed myself; there will be consequences if I do."

The male voice wasn't that of Tony's, which she hadn't heard in five days due to who knew what he was doing. So when her sleep-addled brain registered that she didn't recognize the voice, she did her best to spring into action and reach for the emergency phone Tony had set her up with. The genius had given her the latest Stark-Phone tech, which was not only super-secret high-technology, but still in its development stages.

"Ah, ah, Princess. I've taken precautions and disabled Lover-Boy's security." The voice came again and she felt a firm hand enclose her wrist. "Which was fairly easy to do."

"What?" Jiru mumbled as the hand's owner drew her bodily back to the other side of the bed, pinning her on her back. She inhaled to scream, but the man's wits were faster than hers and had his other hand over her mouth.

"Don't scream, Chirpie, it'll be easier if you don't."

Jiru stopped struggling long enough to open her eyes to register a familiar face over hers. Clint Barton's handsome profile was gazing down at her, a small smirk playing across his lips. Her own startled profile flickered from terrified to confused to angry to confused. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was looking down at her, waiting for something.

"No screaming, ok Sparrows?" Clint half-commanded her. "I swear I'm not going to hurt you." He removed his hands from her wrist and mouth.

"Whu are you doing here, Birdie?" She muttered; sitting up on her elbows, and immediately falling back onto her pillow. "Pleeease tell me you aren't…"

"Straddling your ass." Clint's smile grew bigger, teasing her. "What's wrong princess; got a problem? I thought you had a crush on me."

"HHmmm…" Jiru tried to muffle her moan of surprise as he shifted his weight; pushing something very naughty against her stomach. "St-op."

"What was that, Chirpie?"

"Please…stop doing that…" She hissed out of clenched teeth. Her arousal was clearly evident on her face.

"Doing what?" He leaned in closer to her face and gave her another sly smile, knowing the effect he was giving her. The archer's rather heavy frame moved again, this time bearing down on her lower abdomen. Fire raced across her nerves; making her gasp.

"St-stop it…"

"Say it, princess." Clint purred into her ear, he had leaned down that far. "If you say it, then I just might stop."

"Why should I?" She opened her eyes and gazed up at the archer, trying to push him off of her.

"Wait." Clint stopped and cocked his head to the side, as if he was listening – straining to hear – some soft noise. "You hear that?"

"What?" She froze her struggles and felt her confusion grow. "Hear what?" she whispered.

"It sounded like…" the agent said slowly, looking her in the eyes. "THIS!"

The archer had silently brought his hand down to her side and proceeded to poke it. The reaction was instantaneous. Jiru grunted, then squealed; throwing her body away from Clint's prodding fingers.

"Aha! I knew Chirpie had a weakness." Barton chuckled as his other hand left her wrist. "It is good to know."

"What the crap is your problem, Birdie!" the cerulean-haired woman hissed at the archer sitting on her. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" Clint prodded her in the side again; making her grunt again and twist in the bed to escape from his fingers.

"NO, Stop!" Jiru gasped/growled as Clint slid off the bed, allowing her to finally sit up. "I'm going to kick your ass."

"Well, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Hawkeye chuckled as he prowled about the room.

"Yea?" She bit back a yawn. "What the crap are you doing here?" She rubbed her lagoon eyes and looked over to the green-digit alarm clock. "It's six A.M."

"So?"

"On a Saturday, you moron."

"I'd figure I'd get an early start to your new mission." Barton shrugged his muscular shoulders. This earned him a glare from lagoon eyes. Jiru finally got a better look at her tormentor. Clint's grey polo shirt well loosely on his frame and the jean pants covering his legs appeared to be nice enough to scream high-end.

"Mission? What are you talking about?"

"I want to get to know you a little better, Chirpie." The archer answered her as he circled the bed. "Today is my day off, and I thought I'd come over and give you your first mission."

Jiru watched as the hunky S.H.I.E.L.D. agent circled her bed; getting closer to her. Her sleepy brain was still waking up, so therefore, her tongue was far from its normal sharpness. Looking around the large apartment bedroom, she figured the sun was just now sitting on the unseen horizon; covering the tallest city buildings with light.

"So…" Clint drawled out. "What's with the hair?" He had completed his circuit around the room and now stood in front of her. His hand reached up to snag a lock of unnaturally colored hair and lifted it up so it would catch the room's overhead lights. "I mean…it…sparkles?"

"My hair…" She responded, yawning again and moving to the edge of the overly large bed. "I don't know how my hair is like this, it just – changed when I got here."

"Here, you mean on Earth?" His eyes turned from teasing to curious, and he sat down next to the woman. His close proximity gave her a scent of oiled leather, metal and New York smog.

"Yea, Earth." She answered and then placed her face in her hands. Moments ticked by without a word. They both remained sitting on the green-colored covers.

"Chirpie?" Barton coughed. The archer shifted to lean closer to her.

"What!?" She tossed her head up and looked at him; then hid her face again.

"Are…are you crying?"

"No…"

"I think you are, Chirpie." The archer spun off the bed's edge and into a squatting sit in front of her. The archer wasn't completely without a heart, and reached up to grasp her hands. "What's wrong, Princess?"

"Everything. I'm…overstressed at the moment…"

"No kidding." He sighed. "Care to expand?"

"Well, I feel lost without my talisman. This…large city scares the living-crap out of me. I don't do well with so many…people; I'm paranoid that I'm going to get mugged or worse. This city is too loud for me to even sleep in. I haven't had a decent sleep in a week and I'm running on empty. Then you frigging show up and turn me on…"

"Wow." Clint exhaled. "Just wow."

"What?" Jiru looked down at him, her wet eyes showing him the truth with the physical signs of sleep-loss. "It's true."

"You do have issues, Chirpie." The dark-eyed agent smirked up at her, reaching up to brush away the dampness under her eyes. "Tell you what, princess, why don't you go get cleaned up for the day; I'll get you some coffee or tea and food and then we can go paint the town red. It'll help make you forget your worries."

"What?" the cerulean-haired woman gave Barton a curious look.

"Oh, I'll show you around the city, and you won't have to be so nervous because I'll be there." Clint gave another bright smile as he lifted his left hand. "Plus…I have Stark's credit card." With a flick of his fingers, a credit card appeared out of nowhere, like a magician's trick. "We can shop till we drop, hit the spa, or whatever else you want to do."

"No…frigging way…" She blinked, reading the name on the plastic blue card, a smile twitching her lips.

"Yes way."

"I'm there!" Jiru sniffled and stood up. "Let's go buy things!"

"That's the spirit, Chirpie." Clint shot to his own feet and patted the woman on her back as she smiled. "Stark'll never know what happened."

_S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier:_

"Director Fury." A nameless S.H.I.E.L.D. agent knocked on the door and slowly opened it. "There is a call on the Council's line. They want to speak to you."

"When do they NOT want to speak to me." Fury turned in his overpriced plush office chair. The look on his face gave the agent reason to pause before answering.

"Is…that a question, Sir?"

"No, Agent, that was NOT a question." Fury groaned as he placed the mug of coffee on the desk before standing up. "Now go elsewhere, Agent Tripton."

"Yes Sir!"

Fury sighed once more before walking out of his office and into the communications room. The five glowing screens reflected off his face as Fury flicked on the switch.

"This is Director Fury."

"Director Fury…" an electronic feminine voice finally spoke. "So nice of you to join us."

"I'm sure. Let's cut to the chase…what is it this time?"

"We have recently heard rumors…" A councilman started.

"Oh? What rumors would be interesting enough to gain the attention of the Council?" Fury was standing at attention, his hands clasped behind his back.

"There have been rumors of new sightings of Project X.I.N." A third voice agreed.

"Project X.I.N.?" Fury had the ability to look confused and let it show on his face. The man had a damn fantastic poker face. "Wasn't that a highly top-secret project that was shut down back in the mid-60's? Stands for: Extra-terrestrial Intelligence Network?"

"Yes, Director, we know." A forth voice clipped out. "We have reports of Project X.I.N. sightings in New York."

"With all due respect, Councilman." Fury sighed and already knew what he was going to say. "If there had been sightings of Project X.I.N., wouldn't the subject be beyond the age of threat or use? Furthermore, I understand your concerns, but if the information you are telling me is based on nothing but rumors, then I would look rather silly for rushing into a situation like that. Without solid evidence, I really can't do anything about just rumors."

"Director Fury, we understand that." The first voice growled over the scrambled vocals. "WE just want to reiterate the fact that Project X.I.N. is highly dangerous and highly useful. We need her neutralized if spotted."

"I'll keep that in mind." Fury nodded slightly, reading between the lines. "If solid evidence does come to my attention, then I assure you, I will make it my top priority to neutralize the subject."

"Be sure that you do that, Director Fury. Project X.I.N. can be a valuable asset if brought to heel properly." A fifth electronic voice joined the conversation.

"You'll be the first ones I will notify if ANY solid evidence appears pertaining to Project X.I.N., Councilmen. Have a nice day." Fury clicked off, and brought a hand to his face. Project X.I.N. was something he did not want to come to light again, especially since she was back again. Then again, if Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. could once again tap into the unlimited power of Project X.I.N., then it would revolutionize energy usage.

However, success would come at the expense of a single life. Fury felt that the expense of such a project was unacceptable this time, and made his decision to sweep this under the rug. The young woman was far from the threat S.H.I.E.L.D. had first labeled her to be. The Director knew that now; as long as nothing threatened her sense of security or life, then Project X.I.N. would be just a normal human. But her power had such potential for use…

"Damn it." Fury cursed to himself, reaching into his pocket for the phone, making a decision. He might as well get his plan started, and ask her nicely. Director Fury might as well utilize the resources he had; otherwise S.H.I.E.L.D. would waste thousands of tax dollars on using second-rate materials – so much for forgetting about Project X.I.N.

"Hello, Agent Coulson…I have a new mission for you…" Fury spoke low into the phone.


	6. Flock Together

_Chapter 5: Flock Together_

_Jiru's apartment: Late evening._

Tony Stark let himself into the penthouse apartment, expecting to see a specific somebody. The room was empty, causing the billionaire genius to frown. She was not there.

"Superstar?" He called out and received no answer. "Hm."

Clearing his throat once, Tony stepped further into the female's abode. It had been five days since he last talked to his second favorite female in the world, and was craving to spend some time with her. It didn't help that his most recent pet-project had to pertain to her, thus his mind was full of her and her unique powers. The billionaire had been given a new toy and had run rampant with it. The diamond fragment she had given him a week ago had filled his genius brain with ideas – all revolving around the limitless power source. Like his Arc Reactor, the diamond fragment was a revolutionary advance for human kind; because it harnessed the raw, potent energy of stars. It was a shame it wasn't available for public use – never would be; it was one of a kind, a singular miracle – something far beyond his comprehension.

Moving his eyes around the apartment room he had set the younger female up in, the billionaire was slightly surprised to see the materialistic personality of the cerulean-haired woman. Her furniture consisted of a modern, smooth-lined couch; with a matching set of three oval-shaped sitting chairs; all white and off-blue in color. The coffee table was black with a crystal-glass sheet as the top. A small book shelf was against one wall, and it was filled a several science fiction books and a few fantasy-genres. The poster above the shelf was a full-color spread of none other than Iron Man. The shelf top held at least ten or more magazines – all portraying himself: Tony Stark or the suit of metal, Iron Man.

"Well, Supernova, it looks like somebody has a huge crush." He chuckled to himself as he picked up a magazine, looking briefly at his own picture. Moving into the modern and sleek kitchen, Tony smiled more as he counted seven different plastic cups – all of them Iron Man themed. They looked out of place against the brushed chrome appliances and sophisticated counter tops. "A really huge crush."

Looking around more, and being generally nosy, the billionaire spotted the seriously high-tech laptop computer on the table he had given her. "Let's see just how bad you've got it, babe."

Booting up the computer, he paused a moment, looking at the password-asking screen. Well, if she was anything like the smart cookie Tony knew her to be, her password would NOT be something so obvious as Iron Man or T-Stark: the code would be something totally random or made-up.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.." Tony said aloud.

~Yes, Sir?~ The A.I. voice responded.

"Ah, good, you're in the system."

~Why wouldn't I be, Sir? You did upload me into this location.~ The masculine-A.I. voice informed Tony. ~Which, by the way, has me concerned about the practicality of doing so. The Miss of the apartment has no knowledge of me here.~

"Huh, you mean she hasn't figured it out yet?"

~No Sir. The Miss has not called for me once.~

"Doesn't matter. I need the password for her computer, J.A.R.V.I.S.."

~Sir, I can't do that.~

"Oh? J.A.R.V.I.S., are you being belligerent?" Tony smirked to himself. He did indeed make J.A.R.V.I.S. above and beyond any other A.I. systems in the world; of course the program was going to be a smart cookie.

~No, Sir. I was merely suggesting that you should try to be more patient with other people's privacy.~ The A.I. system spoke evenly. ~I would not be a very good security system if I gave such-~

"Yea, well I want her password to get into her systems so I can see just what she has been up to." Tony cut J.A.R.V.I.S. off, sighed, then moved his fingers over the laptop's keyboard and punched in enough of a digital command to bypass the power-on password. "Keep up the good work, J.A.R.V.I.S.."

~Thank you, Sir.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. answered.

"Tell me J.A.R.V.I.S., how has she been the past five days?"

~She has been in excellent health, Sir. The Miss's eating style is superb and exercise regiment is mediocre. She eats healthier than you, Sir.~

"Fantastic." The genius smiled to himself as he browsed the viewing history of the laptop. It was mostly digital articles on Iron Man and himself and his industries. Other websites included gaming platforms such as Angry Birds and Farmville. Very interesting, it looked like his Superstar was adjusting to this planet like a native. She was keeping up with her research and staying updated with local, national and world-wide news. Tony was slightly impressed with her finesse to be knowledgeable.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., where is she now?" Tony diverted his attention away from her computer and leaned back into the posh, modern-stylized black curvy chair.

~Sir, I don't think she…~

"J.A.R.V.I.S., I know she wouldn't like me tracking her by the GPS chip I inserted when I first ran bio-checks on her…just answer the question." Tony ordered his A.I. system. "Pull it up on a map."

~Of course Sir.~

"That won't be necessary, Mr. Stark." A new voice interrupted Tony's thoughts. Blues eyes looked up into brown ones. The black-suited Phil Coulson was standing in the kitchen's entrance.

"Hey, Coulson, how are ya?" Tony nodded plainly from the sleek metallic table. "What's with the 'I'm-here-to-work' look?"

"Doing good, Stark, how are you?" the sharply dressed S.H.I.E.L.D. agent nodded politely to the billionaire. "I am here to get Miss Jiru's daily report."

"Eh, is that so?" Stark answered, standing up. It was a posturing thing. A moment of silence drifted between the two men. "So, just how much of a spark is she in bed, Coulson?" Tony briskly walked over to the penthouse refrigerator and opened it to be severely disappointed. His Superstar had not one ounce of alcohol in her abode.

"Mr. Stark, I hardly think that is an appropriate question." Coulson informed Tony, who was searching for a drink. "She is a respectable young lady who is trying her best to fit into a society that is similar to previous dimensions she has visited and yet I quote 'completely different in absolutely minute details.' She also doesn't drink, Mr. Stark."

"Huh, well that's a complete shame and waste." The billionaire's frown deepened. "J.A.R.V.I.S., order up some scotch and rum and have it delivered to this address."

~Sir, I hardly find that acceptable for the Miss's domain. She will not like having such amounts of alcohol in her living quarters.~

"Just do it J.A.R.V.I.S.. I'll take the rest with me, and she'll have nothing here."

~Very well, Sir. Does Sir need anything else to accommodate his stay here?~ the A.I. voice now came from the laptop.

"No, J.A.R.V.I.S., I'm fine. So, Coulson, what the hell are you still doing here?" Tony flopped down on the couch, lazily turning on the TV. "Other than bugging our beloved Superstar?"

"Miss Jiru had an appointment an hour ago." The brown-haired agent said casually, walking over to shut the refrigerator door. "She rarely ignores appointments, unlike you Mr. Stark. So I decided to go ahead and track her down."

"And?" Tony looked at Coulson with placid interest. "Just for the record, I do try to be a respectable businessman and keep my appointments."

"She is with Agent Barton." Coulson gave an even smile and placed his black attaché case just inside the snazzy kitchen and helped himself to the brown teak wood fruit bowl, an apple.

"Well…" Tony looked at Coulson and sighed. "I'm going to kill him for taking my stuff."

"Very funny, Mr. Stark." Coulson smiled platonically. "I'm sure that won't be necessary. She and Barton are both very responsible adults."

"So you say." Tony chuckled. "Superstar is probably scaring the hell out of your agent with her randomness."

"I highly doubt that Mr. Stark."

"Well, we'll just wait here and find out, eh, Coulson?" Tony smiled brightly and turned his attention to his hand held digital pad.

"Indeed, we shall." The agent gave a small smile and pulled out the newspaper of the day.

XXX

The sleek black and green car zoomed down the busy New York streets, handling the roads with high-class style. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sat in the front of the car, the windows open and music thumping through the bass. They had '_Carp Diem'-ed_ the crap out of New York City. The female was currently enjoying the wind whipping through her newly-styled hair and giggling her one-glass-drunk-ass off; random things setting her into new fits every few minutes. On the driver's side, the male was guiding the car expertly around the streets and trying his damned best not to shake his head at the classical laughing-drunk female.

"Ok, Chirpie, I am never letting you drink with me." Barton tried so very hard to stop from smiling as he focused on driving. "I'm never letting you drink again, period."

"Oh shut up, Birdie, you're thoroughly enjoying seeing me make an ass of myself." The mint green-haired woman giggled once again. "You know you like the attention."

"You are such a freaking light-weight." The archer rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that evening, brushing off what he knew to be her personably flirty lines. "You had what, one glass?"

"One and a half; remember, you dared me to." Jiru laughed again, and ran a hand through her now-shorter hair. Barton had taken her to a hair-stylist that afternoon, and they had a blast in getting her a new look. Her unique sparkling hair had been the currency used to pay for the haircut. The evening wind blew through her five-hour new haircut as Barton's car raced down the road, making its direction to a certain part of New York. "SCREW YOU, YOU F^&**ING B $^&*DS!" Jiru leaned out the open window and flipped off passing drivers. "I'M QUEEN OF THE WORLD!"

"Oh my god, just when I thought you couldn't get any wilder." Barton swore his face was going to freeze in a perpetual smile at her antics. He had gotten to know the female quite well as the day had progressed; analyzing her personality as she slowly opened up to him as her comfort level grew. "You go and blow the birdie."

"HAHAHAHA!" Jiru broke into a new bout of uninhibited laughter as she slumped back into her seat. "That's not the only birdie I wanna blow."

"Seriously, Chirpie? Did you seriously just go there?" Clint groaned and felt himself blush.

"Hell yea!" the woman laughed and winked at him. "You are serious hot, Birdie. Just how many women throw themselves at you?"

"Uh, not a lot, Chirpie, I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. assassin. That profession doesn't really allow close friendships."

"Oh." Jiru looked serious. "Well you got me now, so deal with it."

"What?" Clint blinked and looked over at the shorter woman as she broke out into another fit of giggles.

"I said I'm your new friend, so there." she switched topics as Barton pulled into the living complex in which Stark had placed her in. "Deal with it. Oh lovely, P.C. is here! Look, that's his car. Oh how fun, I think I missed…whatever you call that phrase."

"Check-in?" Clint suggested to her.

"Yea, Check-in." She giggled once again.

XXX

Coulson and Stark had been waiting for nearly three hours, and the billionaire had been pacing for the last forty minutes. Coulson was relaxed, on the couch, still reading a newspaper.

"I'm going to go rescue her." Tony blurted out for the fifth time in an hour. He lifted the empty scotch glass to his lips. "Damn, I'm out of drink…"

"Oh?" Coulson looked up from his reading and glanced at the billionaire. "I'm sure she is just taking her time having fun, Mr. Stark. It IS a Saturday."

"What if-" The Arc-wearing man began, but was interrupted by the penthouse door opening. The half-drunk genius looked at Coulson and the agent looked right back into those blue, drunk eyes.

"I believe that they have returned." Coulson stated calmly as he folded his paper, set it aside and stood up from the couch. Tony gave a half-strangled laugh and raced into the front room.

"…ALL THE WINDOWS DOWN!" A pair of voices sang off key. Tony and Phil stood in the living room, looking at the scene before them.

Jiru was draped over Hawkeye's back as the archer carried her in. Both of them were laughing at whatever song was passing between the split-wired headphones they were sharing. The clothes they wore couldn't be more different; Clint wore a dark green shirt, with black sleeves, and dark jeans while she wore a teal shirt and cherry-pink Capris. A snow-leopard-print hat was over her lovely, now shorter hair and the neon green laces clashed with the blue sports shoes.

"Hey, Superstar, did you let Legolas dress you in that?" Tony snarked at the laughing pair. "So nice of you to invite me along for your day of fun."

"Why hello thar, Iron-duuude." Jiru giggled in answer as Barton let her off his back. He removed the ear phone from her and reclaimed the music player. She marched right up to the billionaire and looked straight in his eyes. "As a matter of fact, I have a few things I wanna talk to you about, Iron-duuude." Behind her, Barton failed miserably in hiding his laughter.

"Whoa, Sparkles, wait a minute." Tony leaned forward and sniffed her breath. "Are…you drunk? You are drunk, aren't you?"

"What?" Jiru blinked as her sponsor tested her breath. "Yea, I can drink, I'm of legal age. No I'm not drunk, I only had one glass."

"Well, I forbid you to drink any more if you are going to dress like that." He brought a hand up to touch her shorter hair. "Love what you've done with your hair, babe, very sexy."

"What? Don't touch me."

"I believe I just did." He smirked.

"What?" the dimensional walker blinked as her lightly intoxicated brain processed his words. "Are you…wait a freaking minute, you're drinking too, Stark."

"Ah, uh, no." Tony denied, smile-bombing her.

"You are too so drunk!" She stated. "Knowing you, getting drunk is a way to deal with a huge problem. So what is your problem?"

"Problem? My problem is that you take off for the day, and I have no idea where you are."

"Why, are you mad-" She snorted.

"Mad, no, of course not, I was merely staring at your…I mean I was merely stating that-" Tony stated.

"Staring at what? Are you hitting on me now?" Her voice rose a notch. "Answer me, Tony Stark. You are hitting on me, because that's what you do to women."

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you, who has a huuuge crush on Iron Man." He responded, motioning to the poster on the wall. "It's so obvious that you do, Sparkles."

As the two argued, the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stood to the side, watching the scene unfold with growing confused concern. Phil looked questioningly at Barton and the archer flopped onto the couch, giving a shrug and an 'I-have-no-idea-don't-blame-me-for-this' look.

"Whatever, duuude." She tossed her head and turned away from the billionaire, a slight blush on her face. "I normally would take that sh*t and not say anything about it, but I am currently feeling really uninhibited at the moment, so I'm going to…"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off by Tony's kiss. The billionaire wrapped his arm around her waist and spun her around, placing his lips on hers. Her eyes went wide as the genius tried to deepen his kiss.

"No!" Pushing away him, she took several steps away from temptation. "Don't do that to me, Tony."

"What?" He looked at her. "I was only responding to your body language; which by the way, is screaming my name."

"Don't….just don't." Jiru sighed and brought her fingers up to massage the bridge of her nose. "It's not fair. You're dating Miss Potts, aren't you?"

"Miss Jiru?" Coulson spoke up, making the younger woman flinch. "Do you need help?"

"No…I-just…I'm ok." She answered the agent, before turning her back to Tony. "I've had a long day. I'm sorry I missed check-in, P.C."

"That's quite alright, Miss Jiru." The brown-haired man smiled gently. Coulson glanced at the genius, who was awkwardly refilling his scotch glass, gazing idly at the woman. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has a new mission for you."

"Ah, uh, No. Double no…negative." Tony spoke up, snapping out of his trance. "S.H.I.E.L.D. does not get any of my stuff."

"It isn't your call, Stark." Coulson answered back.

"I'm not 'your stuff' Tony." Jiru said, causing Clint to chuckle. "P.C. it's late, can't this wait for tomorrow?"

"It really can't Miss Jiru." The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent sat back down on the couch, pulling out a thin black folder. "Tell me, have you ever heard of anything called 'Tesseract'?"

"Tesseract?" Jiru looked at Coulson with confusion. "Isn't that a cube shape?"

"Something like that." Phil was somewhat vague.

"If I may say something, which I am going to say anyway-" Tony had put his booze glass down and stood between the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and his 'stuff'. "You cannot use my newest personal-assistant for your dangerous Tesseract tests, Coulson."

"Newest personal assistant? What the hell, Stark?" the woman squawked at the genius. "Since when did I get promoted?"

"Besides the point, Sparkles." Tony turned to her. "Bottom line is; you are not going to get anywhere NEAR that alien-toy."

"What are you even talking about?" Jiru looked lost. "Excuse me, but you're not the boss of me."

"Actually, I am." Tony's cocky, narcissistic attitude was back and gaining power. He waggled a finger at her, hoping to get a reaction from her. "You WERE hired at Stark Industries, at Stark Tower, and I personally hired you to work for me; Tony Stark."

"Huh?" The dimensional walker blinked, watching as the playboy genius poured himself another drink from the bottle on the table.

The evening had set on New York, and the lights in the penthouse room were already on, illuminating the kitchen, the front room and the bathroom. Jiru watched as Barton got up from the couch and moved into the kitchen, throwing open the fridge door to peer inside. Just how three different men managed to sneak into her living abode was beyond her, but Jiru knew that Phil was trying to be serious in light of her vapid giggle-fest and argument with Tony.

"Another thing, Superstar, you really wouldn't make it on your own on this planet, so you ought to thank me for even rescuing you back there in the Arctic."

"That was just plain harsh, dude." Barton coughed as he came back from the kitchen. The archer had opted to have nothing to do with Tony's verbal argument, but had to say something to deflect the genius's last comment. The archer moved over to her side and opened the soda can he finally decided on getting.

"Mister Stark, if you would stop intimidating the young lady, I can inform her of her mission." Coulson interjected.

"No mission for her, Coulson. I refuse your logic and substitute it with my own." Tony scoffed, causing the woman to giggle. Her laughter was like sunshine for Tony, it was addictive and refreshing. "You thought that was funny, Supernova. Good, you need to laugh more; frowning doesn't suit you at all."

"Why don't you two take it in the bedroom, geez." Barton coughed lamely.

"Why, Cupid, you jealous?" Tony said flippantly at the archer as he sat next to the woman. "You know she likes me better, I know how to make her laugh."

"Fury has need of her special talents for a mission." Coulson stated plainly, interrupting whatever verbal sparring was about to take place between the men. "He needs her permission to utilize her star powers."

"ABOUT TIME!" Stark shouted with a smile, turning away from Hawkeye. "I was waiting for you today with a surprise, Superstar, but I completely forgot when I saw you in those god-awful clothes."

"What are you talking about?" Jiru leaned back, looking at the genius. "I'm not sure I should accept surprises from you, Tony. My clothes are not that bad."

"You are a riot, Superstar. I have created you an arc reactor, powered by none other than your diamond fragment."

"Swee-et!" She switched to a smile. Tony pulled out a thin, metallic disc from behind his back; in it was her diamond fragment; triangular in shape. "That is wicked cool."

"Here, Sparkles, put it on." Tony said, tapping his own chest to indicate where it went. "I had the best time playing with it, but it really is yours. What surprised me was when it became malleable, I about damn near shi-"

"You are starting to freak me out, Stark." Jiru crossed her arms over her chest, cutting Tony's foul mouth off. "Malleable? You mean you managed to…?" She knew that the semi-sentient diamond responded to her mental command and physical touch, often morphing into other objects, but for the jewel to allow for another person to change its shape, gave her confusion.

"Yes, I did, Sparkles. Your diamond is out of this world, babe. Take it." Tony held out the one-of-a-kind Arc-Reactor to the woman in front of him. "When you get back, I'll show you all my fancy new ideas that I powered by the diamond."

The woman stared at the billionaire for a few moments, before reaching out and taking the small device from his hand. The round device was similar to the one currently in his chest, only slightly smaller in diameter. The palladium-substitute (Starkium) was missing, since the diamond fragment replaced the new element. The man of Iron's mini-creation sat lightly in her hands. She stared at it, feeling her brain whirling in thoughts. Was it really wise to allow people in this dimension to mess with something like a starburst diamond, Jiru wasn't nearly as intelligent as Tony Stark, and had no answers as such.

"Miss Jiru, we really don't have time for this, our flight leaves in half an hour. We really would like your help with this mission." Coulson coughed politely, not missing the body language of the woman and her impending zone-out.

"Alright, fine. I'm in." She answered the veiled question.

"Excellent. Agent Barton, if you will help Miss Jiru pack something decent for this mission, we can leave on time. Director Fury has many things he needs to discuss with you, Miss Jiru." Coulson shifted into busy-mode as he reorganized his things and grabbed his briefcase from the table.

"Fine, but I'm not sitting next to her in the car, Coulson." Clint muttered humorously and stalked into the penthouse bedroom. "It'd be just my luck if she jumps my ass…" He teased.

"We aren't taking a car, Agent Barton." Coulson called out after the archer assassin. "Red-Eye flight."

"YAY, 'Mile-High Club'!" Jiru shouted, loading the phrase with undertones and being kinky-mouthed. "With Birdie!"


	7. Tesseract

_Chapter 6: Tesseract_

_Location: New Mexico  
S.H.I.E.L.D. Base: Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S._

Life had a funny way of coming full circle and biting butt; the cerulean-haired woman was thinking this while she was sitting in a squeaky black office chair who knew how many feet below the surface. The place had completely changed since her previous visit, fifty-two years prior. The underground mega-sized cave was a new addition, but then, why shouldn't there be a cave under a super-secret, highly-classified S.H.I.E.L.D. base.

There was a cave because SHE had unintentionally put on there. Flash-cryogenizing a large area wasn't done without ecological/biological consequences. Jiru hadn't quite wrapped her mind around just how S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to thaw such a behemoth chunk of ice and get a nice big cave in return. But it was a cave, and as such, this cave utilized/supported/housed whatever wild-brained experiments the human mind could possibly come up with dealing with dangerous materials, alien energy cubes or mind-boggling quantum-physics.

The young woman really felt out of place among the multitude of hardware, tech-ware and other scientific gadgets she really had no name for. Having arrived that morning from a red-eyed flight from New York to New Mexico; the dimensional-walker had spent the first half of the day signing papers and stuff. That sucked air-dirt because her current 'boss' was keeping her on a strict time-table, bringing her down many levels below ground to get her integrated in S.H.I.E.L.D.'S newest insane pet project. The only sleep she had taken was on the plane.

Phil Coulson (his first name was NOT Agent) had shoved a lot of information at her brain during the short trip to the base. The Tesseract was an alien source of incredible energy, like her Diamond. He hadn't gone into specifics of just what S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to use the glowing blue cube for, and had avoided answering her questions about the subject. Her 'mission' was to allow Nick Fury to use her diamond shard to power a series of tests pertaining to the Tesseract, since they had yet to unlock the Tesseract's power to use. She really didn't have a say in the matter, Fury was going to do what he wanted to do anyway; it was just polite afterthought that he allowed her to be on hand to oversee the use of the adamant shard.

So Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. (Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/United States) had brought her out to New Mexico, in a highly classified, uber-secret, partially finished cave filled with god knew how much of insanely costing hardware and…nerdy geeky scientist stuff. Tony Stark would have a joygasm poking around the place. Jiru had been on edge for a few hours, trying her best not to be the focus of the many scientists' attentions. A few of the older men knew about her, and about the diamond shard, making the mental connections once Coulson had briefly introduced her to a few people. Her unique-colored hair completely did NOT help hide her presence, as more and more supposedly Tesseract-assigned physicists, scientists and other brainiacs often took a break to be curious about her.

"Miss Jiru." Agent Coulson's voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned to the suited-man and smiled loosely. It was two hours after a very trying lunch in the mess hall for Jiru and she had finally found her temporary boss and shadowed him; which was fine by her, because she would have gotten lost in the huge confusing mess of the base. It wouldn't look good for her if S.H.I.E.L.D. had to send out a rescue party in their own base.

"I'm so sorry, P.C. My mind is still trying to absorb all the information from last night. Did you say something?"

"Ah, well…" Phil looked kindly at her and gave a small smile. "It is rather overwhelming, isn't it?"

"Yes, overwhelming."

She and Phil stood off to the side as busy-body agents went about their work and triple-checked the energy-converter machine and its plug-ins. The machine, looking like a huge computer hard-drive had several cables spewing forth to other, smaller machines and computers. The large hard-drive had vertical-loading tube which she mentally measured to be as wide as a fire-hydrant. The internals of the device were cover by a grey-black casing, making it look more like a huge computer hard-drive.

"So this…machine is going to use energy from the diamond shard and do what?" Jiru turned to Coulson and asked. Both she and Barton were rather surprised when Coulson tried to explain how S.H.I.E.L.D. had built a power-converter in attempts to harness the diamond shard she had left behind back in the 60's. The technicalities of the science were still beyond her grasp.

"Convert it into electricity." He answered, half his attention focused on the phone earpiece.

"Interesting."

"Yes, it is very interesting how S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to figure out how to convert starlight-plasma into electricity." A grey-haired man stepped up next to her and Phil. "Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. is really something."

She had met Doctor Erik Selvig ten minutes earlier and the man, like most of the scientists on the premises, was clearly an Einstein to her above-average intelligence. He was very well-versed on not only inter-dimensional physics, but the mathematics and linguistics involved with higher science. Doctor Selvig was the one who helped her feel comfortable when she was clearly out of her element. He was kind enough to show her the completely complex gismos that were being used in the experiments; explaining the best he could in Layman's terms.

"Yea, I'm taking your word for it P.C., Dr. Selvig." Jiru half-smiled as glanced at the blue Tesseract sitting in its cradle yards away. "I just hope everything goes as you scientists calculated."

"No worries, Miss." Selvig grinned at her. "I still don't understand why you won't allow us to use both the shard and the fragment?"

"I don't want people using the whole thing." She stated, bringing a hand up to her sternum, touching the disc that was under her shirt. The Arc-Reactor-like disc was currently being worn as a pendant, and it was going to stay that way, against her bare chest.

"What's the harm with combining the two parts?" The doctor gave her a confused, curious look. It appeared that not everybody was privy to her S.H.I.E.L.D. files. Doctor Selvig was most likely very interested in the opportunity to study the diamond.

"I told Director Fury, numerous nosy agents and Fury just twelve more times that if the two pieces were merged; I, and the diamond, would move onward, traveling to another dimension to find more shards and I…don't want to leave this place…just yet." She continued, speaking more to herself. "The diamond is shatter-scattered all over creation, and if I find and claim a piece, it automatically sends me to the next shard. If I were to put the two diamond pieces together, it and I would be gone; warped to elsewhere."

"Oh." The doctor nodded like he understood.

"We would miss you greatly, Miss Jiru." Phil spoke, having finished talking to whomever was on the receiving end of the ear-phone. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agent was probably the person most familiar with the details of her story; since Coulson interacted with her on a daily basis. He and Fury both knew more of the dimensional-walker than they ever could gleam under interrogation. If she touched the diamond shard S.H.I.E.L.D. still had, then Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. would be sent back to the basics; leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. with nothing. Fury would have to find another easy, harmless energy source – probably never again having the opportunity to work with a starburst diamond.

"Well, Director Fury has given the all-clear for the shard to be inserted." Coulson smiled, after writing in his portable data-log. "Let's start this project, Doctor Selvig."

"Indeed." The Doctor smiled and moved towards the energy-converter. "Mister Coulson, if you please."

"Yes, of course." The brown-haired agent nodded at her and stepped forward, pulling a small, steel vial out from his coat pocket. The vial, about the size and length of a Bic pen-cap, gleamed silver in the light. It was opaque, so she did not see the shard she assumed was in it.

"OH!" Jiru exhaled loudly. "So that's where it was; no wonder I couldn't sense it. What the heck is that vial made of? I've never come across something that could completely hide my diamond's energy aura."

"Oh, this?" Phil paused, holding up the tiny tube so she could inspect it. "Vibranium, which is a very rare metal. This and Captain America's S.H.I.E.L.D. are made from the only Vibranium found on earth."

"Huh, interesting." The woman gazed at it curiously. "Very interesting." She knew all about Captain America only because Coulson had told her everything HE knew about the man. It was awe-striking for her to be on the same planet with such a famous figure. Back in her world, the comic-book scene was very popular with his story, name, figure and personality. To land in a dimension where all that was real and then some…it was a fan-girl's wet-dream.

"Please, Miss Jiru, don't be upset that we had to keep your shard in this. The vial is just a precaution, you know…" The agent visually studied her body language; finding the woman on the verge of a zone-out.

"In case other crazies out in the universe might be able to sense it, yea I get your reasoning." She huffed again, stuffing her hands into her S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued coat pockets. Coulson had spent enough time with her to be attuned to her numerous body language queues, thus making it seem he was reading her mind. "It's a shame you don't have more Vibranium…I'd like a piece."

"Yes, well, we'll have to save that problem for another time." Phil graciously conceded the argument before it could start.

"Yea, ok." She smiled back at the agent.

"Doctor Selvig…" Phil turned to the doctor and handed the elder scientist the vial. The scientist smiled, twisted the tiny vial top open and poured the contents into his craggy palm. Both Phil and Jiru leaned forward to finally see the shard. The sparkling diamond shard wasn't much of a shard – the tiny diamond was the size/shape of a grain of rice, and was smooth instead of pointy. The tiny size, however, did not take away the sheer brilliance of the gem as it threw off fiery diamond fire in the light. The diamond looked to be about .05 carats, which was 2.5 millimeters in size.

"Wow." Agent Coulson commented. "All that energy from that tiny pebble?"

"P.C. You apologize to the Shard right now!" Jiru cried, being faux-affronted.

"Excuse me?" The agent looked at her with a blank face.

"My starburst diamond has feelings too! You just called it a pebble. Apologize to it, P.C."

"I'm sorry?" Phil shook his head at her antics; because that's what it was: her antics.

"Apology accepted, Phillip Coulson. Now, good doctor-scientist, proceed with energy conversion manipulation." She stated seriously, despite the smile plastered on her face.

Doctor Selvig gave Coulson a sympathetic look and shook his head; both of them hiding their smiles at the woman's quirky humor. Selvig then turned to the energy-converter and opened the tube's panel in which he carefully inserted the tiny diamond into its tiny metal cradle and stepped back as the prongs snapped around the gem grain. The machine automatically started up, self-shutting its panels and doors, drawing the holding tube back into the depths of the machine.

"Alright folks; energy output is at ninety percent and rising, let's get this show on the road!" Selvig announced to his colleagues. The scientists then jumped to work, initiating the tests.

XXX

It had been five hours since Selvig inserted her diamond grain – the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists had started calling it a grain – and she had been sitting on the sidelines since, not understanding a thing anyone said in terms of science lingo. She was on her own this time, because Phil had promptly disappeared right after the community evening meal. The dimensional-walker had quietly made her way to the main cave-room and found an out-of-the way seat. Three hours later, she become utterly bored and wondered if anyone would every go to sleep. It had only taken five minutes for her attention span to move on and Jiru took out the Stark-Tech phone and turned it on. She played a few games until she grew tired of that, then logged off the platforms.

'Watch out for paper airplanes.' Was the text that appeared onscreen.

"What the heck?" Jiru was confused…until a paper airplane flew by her face, close enough to skim a few hairs. "Ack!"

The cerulean-haired woman flinched and spun around on the chair, looking at the seven or so scientists that were working on the machines. None of them looked responsible for the simplistically folded paper-plane. Looking down at the floor at the thing, she furrowed her brows in concern. What was going on here? Was her tired mind messing with her?

"!" Another paper-plane whizzed past her face, making her flinch backwards. There were markings on the paper-plane, indicating something written in it. She reached down to grab the plane and unfolded it, reading the message:

'Flying paper; brought to you by your Eye in the Sky.'

Her brain-gears turned and Jiru got it. Hawkeye was somewhere in the cave-basement, throwing paper-airplanes at her. He must have a bow that could launch paper-planes, because there was just no normal way a human hand could make paper-planes skim her hair at that speed from far away. She smirked and shot out of her seat, looking sharply around the upper limits of the large room. The metallic catwalks spread out semi-high above, and rimmed the ceiling, allowing whichever workers freer access to the taller machines. The catwalk that was in the very back had some sort of minimalist elevator in the corner, and it the car was up off the ground. Ten more paper-planes flew at her face, all in rapid succession. She dodged them and roughly calculated the trajectory in her head.

"BIRDIE, I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!" She shouted at the left hand corner and then regretted doing so. Most of the working brainiacs gave paused and glared at her as her voice echoed upwards. "Oops, sorry." Apologizing with nervous eyes, the dimensional-walker ducked her head and wished rapidly to escape the critical glares of the working agents. She glared at the paper on the floor and stomped on a few; allowing herself to smile at Barton's airplane attack. It was rather funny once she thought about it. He must thoroughly know her style of humor by now.

"Please do not shout within the premise, Miss Jiru." The loud, harsh voice of none other than Director Fury boomed from behind her.

"Sh*t! What the fu-?!" She yelped and felt herself lose balance, her foot slipping on the slick concrete and paper. The woman reeled around and fell back against his chest; missing Fury's sardonic half-smile at her reaction. The black, one-eyed man moved on from scaring the living daylights out of her and stepped back. The director nodded to a presence outside her vision field.

"Watch your language, Miss Jiru." Fury smirked at her and turned his attention to Doctor Selvig, stalking over to the working scientist. "Please stop wasting S.H.I.E.L.D. resources." He glanced at the paper planes on the floor at her feet.

"I didn't do that." She growled at being blamed for something she didn't do. The woman looked around the cave and found in emptier than before. The only people left were eight or so scientists, one of whom was Doctor Selvig. "Where'd everyone go? I swear they were just here."

"They evacuated, Miss Jiru." The director answered, sparing her a glance.

Whatever her reply was, was stopped short in her mouth as her attention was caught by the large round device holding the Tesseract, set separately from the other machines. The energy cube started giving off blue-white illuminations, and was bright enough to catch her eye. It was, for her, instantly mesmerizing; physically drawing her towards the fist-sized cube. Her lagoon eyes watched as one of the remaining scientists prodded the cube with a thin rod of steel, most likely measuring whatever energy readings it was giving off.

When she was a foot away from it, the glowing blue cube began dancing for her, the swirls of white-blue energy spiraling in the cube. She stood there, staring and allowed her eyes to glaze over with the other-worldly beauty of the shimmering blue cube. She wanted to reach out and touch the temptation…the blue cube was just too alluring.

"PLEASE don't touch the Tesseract, Miss Jiru." Rough hands pulled her away from the cube, while the owner's voice caught her attention. She yelped as Fury bodily guided her away from the Tesseract. Her eyes caught Barton as he stalked towards her and Fury; his sharp eyes were assessing her carefully, and given the fact that the Director had physically pulled her away from the Tesseract, she was in trouble – big trouble.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things." Fury turned his gruff voice on the newly-appeared agent sternly. "And yet you allow Miss Jiru here to nearly come in contact with the Tesseract."

"Well, I see better from a distance." Barton said plainly. "She wasn't going to touch it. If she just happened to make a move to do so, you would have had it covered." Director Fury shook his head, glared at her and sighed. Fury motioned her away from the cube as he paced between her and it.

"Geez, I wasn't going to touch it." Jiru snorted, looking away guiltily; feeling like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar. Barton looked at her, then winked.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" The agitated director asked. A beeping sound from one of the computers caught their attention.

"Doctor, it's spiking again." the female specialist in a white lab coat called from the console. Selvig ran over to the beeping computer.

"No one's come or gone." Barton continued his report as Director Fury climbed up next to the Tesseract holder and stared at the blue shimmering cube intently. "Both Selvig and Miss Jiru are clean."

"Of course I'm 'clean', you're the one who brought me here to begin with, Director Fury." Jiru scowled once more at the dark-skinned director and rolled her eyes. She politely smiled at Doctor Selvig and walked over to stand by Hawkeye, watching as he compacted his bow and put it away. Barton glanced at her once again and smiled softly. She smirked in return and then became serious as Fury turned towards the two agents.

"No contacts, no I.M.s." Barton continued. "If there was any tampering, it wasn't at this end."

"At this end?" Fury asked, looking at his agent with astonishment. Jiru raised her eyebrows. Was Birdie thinking about what she thought he was thinking about? The Tesseract wasn't something she was all that familiar with, but if she and Agent Barton were on the same page, then…

"You have got to be kidding me, Barton. Are you saying the Tesseract is a doorway into space?" Jiru spoke aloud. Fury raised his eyebrows waiting for his newest agent's explanation. "Doors open from both sides. Well, this is NOT good, you have to turn it off."

"What do you think we have been doing the past five hours, Agent Jiru?" Fury toned sounded very condescending to her.

Suddenly, a tiny spark energy crackled from the cube. Fury and Barton both backed away from the blue-cube. The energy surrounding the Tesseract crackled and popped making the whole floor vibrate. Jiru looked down at Barton's hand, which rested gently on his handgun. The energy continued to move around and then suddenly shot a giant laser to the far end of the laboratory, creating an air current strong enough to affect her hair. Jiru jumped back from Barton as his body stiffened into a defensive position. Hawkeye's training kicked in and he pushed her behind him. Whatever was happening next was going to be most unpleasant.

The giant blue laser created a portal and the energy surged out from that point, blowing past the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the NASA specialists. She watched as the energy surged up the walls and collected in the dome of the laboratory. Jiru looked back at the point where the laser had fired, brushing her cerulean bangs out of her face. Sounds of guns cocking and safety-off clicking arrowed into her ears as their firearms were cocked and aimed at the glowing portal. The blue curtain snapped brighter as a figure was exuded from the pure-energy, then condensed as it closed itself, careening up to the ceiling. The soldiers moved in on the figure, which slowly rose up amidst the smoke that surrounded him. Barton and Fury stared at that point. Squinting, Jiru caught sight of someone or something crouched at the very point where the laser had fired.

As the smoke from the being's crazy entrance faded quickly away, Jiru could make out more distinguishable features of the figure: the man was tall, dark and handsome. The attire, black and green leather armor; some of it being lined in gold, fell to the floor around his boots. His dark hair went to his shoulders and flipped softly outward at the ends. In his hand was a long golden staff, the end curving softly to hold the sphere of bright shimmering blue; a blue eerily similar to the Tesseract. The only flaw was his eyes; they were a cold vivid blue, void of any emotional warmth. The man slowly lifted himself from his squatting position as those cold eyes scanned the scene before him. Only when his eyes locked with hers did the coldness change into warmth. His face belonged to the same figure she had dreamt of five days back and he was definitely not of this world…


	8. Agressive Forces

_Chapter 7: Aggressive Forces_

The silence that spanned the cavern stretched on for timeless seconds, the tension between the newly arrived mystery man, the S.H.I.E.L.D. gunmen, the scientists still in the room and Fury plus his agents; her and Barton, A.K.A. Hawkeye, A.K.A. Birdie.

Jiru couldn't help but shudder at the bright blue eyes that pierced her soul. A sly grin spread across the figure's face causing all in the room to realize that this was not going to end well. Fury was the first to speak.

"Sir, please put down the spear." Fury called to the figure, who was now taller than the men in the room. She slowly shifted herself so she didn't have to stare into those cruel, cold eyes anymore. Barton glanced back at her and gave a small nod before turning back to watch as the figure looked at the spear, the energy around the blue globe swirling quickly. Jiru watched as Barton shifted his weight so that he could be ready for anything.

"We have no argument with you." Fury said again to the man, the director's body language going into threatening as the director stepped front and center. Those blue eyes looked dangerous as he stood there, smirking at Fury. The odd man showed no concern over the hundreds of guns being pointed at him. The S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers didn't move an inch, which was kudos to their training.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot…" the man said with a creepy grin, gazing around the darkened room. Immediately, the strange man's eyes were on her again, he gave her a dark smirk before looking back at Director Fury. Above them all, the blue energy buzzed angrily against the rocky ceiling, bubbling like boiling water. "Ah, the queen must miss her king desperately for her to wait in such an ugly place."

"What the hell?" Fury didn't need to look over his shoulder to understand the meaning behind the dark-haired being's words; and unless the invader wasn't the male he looked to be, then those words would be directed to the only female nearby: her. Turning to the closest gun-toting S.H.I.E.L.D. gun-commando, Fury gave the order. "Escort the young lady out of here immediately."

It all went to hell after Fury barked his order. The nearest blue-black-clad commando to her moved with a brisk speed, rising from the crouching position and grabbing her arm very firmly. The man grunted an acknowledgement to Fury's command and melted backwards as his comrades filled his place. At the same time, the blue-eyed man pointed his staff and let loose a burst of blue-white plasma, aiming at the midst of the gun-toting soldiers.

Jiru felt herself being handled roughly, as the helmeted soldier continued to physical guide her away from the area of the fight, skirting the wide plaza of the Tesseract gate. Bullets flew even as that first blue plasma ball left the staff.

"Ma'am, come this way please." The S.H.I.E.L.D. gunman spoke politely as he stuck himself between her and the now active gun fight. Looking at both the roiling blue Tesseract energy swirling around angrily against the ceiling, the leather-clad man throwing plasma-discharge from his spear and Barton trying his best to land a hit on the…the man's name was Loki. Loki was causing chaos in the room, and approaching Barton.

"NO!" Jiru shouted; pulling against the soldier as Loki pushed the scythe's point against Clint's chest. "BARTON!"

The last she saw of Clint was his eyes; first becoming all black before shifting to blue. The S.H.I.E.L.D. soldier pulled her out of the cavernous room and the wall cut off her line of view.

"This way, miss." The male soldier raced her across adjoining room, steering clear of the wide pipes, hardware and other nameless machines that resided in the cavern. With the medium, nasty-looking black gun in his left hand and his right gripped firmly around her arm, the man guided her up the circling steps of which Director Fury himself had used only minutes before. Neither one of them knew of that, however, nor would care.

Feeling herself begin to freak out, she was thrust into the elevator as the brisk-moving soldier, becoming movie-worthy shove-material, as he spun around punching the top most floor button while training his gun outward in the hall way they just were in.

"It'll be just fine, Miss." The man finally spoke after a minute of silence. "Director Fury will-"

Whatever it was he was going to say was interrupted by the buckling ground. Being tossed against the elevator wall, Jiru yelped as the ground pitched again, as if something was trying to burrow into the square elevator-car. The soldier, being steadier on his feet, lowered his gun before reaching out to grasp her arms.

"Steady there, Miss. We're almost to the top floor." He rasped from behind his masked helmet. The car continued its upward rise as the very disconcerting noises grew in number and loudness. Her lagoon green eyes shot to the light-button panel and watched with growing apprehension as it showed the car's progress.

"Just flipping fantastic." She muttered to herself as the Gods of Irony played their hand: the elevator car just had ascended from basement to ground floor when the ground roiled again. A cursing stream erupted from the soldier's mouth as the car froze to a complete stop.

"Stand back, Miss, I'm going to try and force the doors." The soldier shoved the butt of his gun between the elevator doors, thrusting his body to the left to gain leverage. The doors stalled for a moment, before churning open; each second dragging out for hours.

"GO!" The soldier's honed, razor wits were far superior to hers and thus; had already seen, processed and planned into the near future by the time Jiru stepped up next to him to look at the deadly mess they both were currently in. The elevator had stopped between floors and the ground level floor was halfway between the doors, which proved to be a disastrous exit if any. So she rather was startled when he stepped back and shoved himself up under her, pushing her upwards to the hole of freedom in which she could easily fit through.

"Shi-" The cerulean haired female reacted and grabbed the floor's edge, scrambling her body through the half-height opening. Going forward was her only option; so she took it, crawling through the opening onto the cold linoleum floor before turning around to attempt to assist the still-trapped S.H.I.E.L.D. agent/soldier.

"Don't worry about me…JUST GO!" He yelled at her face; making her frightened, panicky fear to flare up high. "JUST RUN!"

Not able to stay calm and collected, Jiru nodded once and bolted upright just as the ground buckled again, giving off a hair-raising groan. Bracing herself against the unsteady wall, she whimpered in fear as her steps took her towards the glass doors leading outside. Somehow, just somehow, she managed to make it outside; despite the crazy state her mind was in. The dark night greeted her, and the areas outside the building were emptying fast, with people diving into jeeps and driving off terribly fast.

"Agent Jiru!" Phil's voice found her and she turned her eyes slightly downward, seeing her calm and fluid-moving friend rushing up for her. "Take my hand, please, and follow me."

The ground continued to rumble underneath them and she quickly connected with Phil; no more words were needed between them. He guided her to an open-back army supply truck. Helping her into the back, Phil jumped up across from her as the truck pulled away from the building. Turning her head to look back to where she just was; Jiru felt herself go white.

The buildings, many of which spread out over the property and sat one or two levels above the hidden underground facilities, wavered like there was an earthquake. The lights within the buildings she could see – several if not all, were hidden from line of view because they all were behind the building she had just exited – flickered several times before finally going out. Then the buildings just fell, falling into some hole that grew and grew and grew, reaching out to her. The ten massive satellites used for scanning the cosmos for star signals wavered and then fell, toppling over into the growing sinkhole.

"Jiru, look at me." Phil's voice cut through her mindless fear. "Look at me, Agent Jiru."

She felt his calm, warm hands on her face, gently guiding her face and view back inside the truck. Even though the very ground beneath the fast-moving vehicle was crumbling like a cheap cookie, being swallowed up into the now massive growing sinkhole, Phil's eyes radiated calm.

"That's it, Miss Jiru. Just look at me and everything will be ok." He spoke sternly. "Breath in and then let it out."

She followed his directions until she felt the truck stop. The ground beneath the truck had stopped its unnatural movements, and grew still; the growling from the ground ceasing just as quickly. Phil dropped his hands away from her face and reached for something on the seat next to himself.

"Director?" Coulson spoke into the radio, breaking the restless silence. "Director Fury, do you copy? Do you copy?" Pushing her cerulean hair out of her face, she looked blankly at the talking device in Coulson's hand. Her mind was – thankfully – emptying itself of any current thought.

~The Tesseract is with a hostile force. I have men down. Hill?~ Fury's voice responded after a minute. She felt herself exhale a breath she hadn't felt herself holding.

~A lot of men still under.~ A woman's voice reported over the radio. Jiru had heard of Agent Hill, but had yet to meet her. Hill, whoever she was, was Fury's right-hand woman; and possibly Agent Coulson's boss or equal; she was that damn good at whatever she did. ~I don't know how many survivors.~

~Sound a general call.~ Fury instructed his two agents. ~I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase and the Tesseract.~ Jiru saw Coulson nod and motioned for a person – four other S.H.I.E.L.D. agent-looking men were in the truck with her and Phil – to relay the message via email. Somehow, without paying attention to the fact that the base she had just been in had sunk into the earth, the blue-eyed Loki had made himself a threat – most likely stealing the blue-cube.

~Roger that.~ Hill's voice responded.

~Coulson, get back to base. Take Agent Jiru with you. This is a Level Seven.~ Jiru watched as Coulson's face took on a very surprised look. In all her time in Coulson's company, she had never seen him look that surprised…that astounded. Whatever 'Level-7' was, it had to be big enough to cause Coulson to look shocked.

~As of right now, we are at war.~ Fury's voice sounded final.

Lifting her lagoon-green eyes to Coulson's face through the dark, poorly-lit nightscape – as it just now registered on her awareness – she shivered as the four or five other S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel in the truck-bed muttered to themselves. Wrapping her long-sleeved arms around herself, she shook her head to clear the dazed fright. Hearing the finality of Fury's war comment brought her back to the here and now.

"P.C.?" She murmured, making Fury's right-hand agent's attention snap to her.

"It's ok, Miss Jiru." Phil smiled kindly at her, even though the meaning was lost in the night's grip. "You performed well in this emergency. I apologize you had to experience it." He leaned forward, still holding the sleek, advanced walkie-talkie in his left hand, placing his right hand on hers; bringing attention to the fact her fists were tight enough to make the knuckles white. "Are you ok now?"

"I-I don't know…what happened to Bir-Agent Barton? Is he alive?" Her internal turmoil was belied by the pain in her vocal chords, like she was refusing to cry. Coulson patted her hands twice more before leaning back, his face taking on a serious look.

"Agent Barton has been compromised." Coulson stated lowly.

The fact hit her like a hammer. Her blood ran through her like a wave of ice water, a heartbeat of dread, before feeling warm again. Agent Barton was with the bad guys? She could have known; should have known; but like so many other dimensions prior to this one, her godlike powers of precognition – of knowing the future beforehand like having seen a the movie or read the book and already knew what the plot held – wasn't one of her abilities. She had given up most of her dimensionally gained super powers sub/unconsciously – future knowledge being one of them. So knowing beforehand that Hawkeye was going to be compromised would have made her do something completely else rather than allowing the S.H.I.E.L.D. soldier to escort her away from the Tesseract and…Loki.

Jiru straightened up, looked straight into Phil's eyes and remembered Fury's comment about non-essential S.H.I.E.L.D. staff working to clean the sinkhole up. Well, if she didn't have precognition, then maybe she could use another power she picked up five dimensions prior: restruction.

"P.C. I'm going to do something randomly insane and crazy. Please don't shoot me."

"What?" Phil had been lost in thought, like her, but now had his laser sharp attention on her.

Reaching up to her diamond fragment, her adamant-crystalline Arc-disc, Jiru pushed her muscles into natural action and twisted out of the truck's back, leaping nimbly on the very edge of the sink hole, which had eerily stopped right behind the truck. Ignoring the concerned inquiries from behind her, she grasped her diamond disc and stepped forward, using her mental acuity to focus on what she wanted her diamond to do.

Restruction was a power she had discovered quite by accident; when dealing with a broken place of residence. Her diamond had picked up on her mental wishes to fix what had been broken. The raw star-energy had gone down to a molecular level and reknitted the material; making it whole again – like a healed broken bone. The dimensional occupants of that plane had investigated the power and had ruled out any use of time; so it wasn't quite like turning back the time on the broken object, but making it whole anyway.

If Jiru could use restruction on the sinkhole caused by the Tesseract energy, then maybe she could really help out S.H.I.E.L.D. in a huge way. Besides, now that she thought more about it, she remembered that there WERE people still trapped underground – like that self-sacrificing soldier in the elevator. She couldn't stand to leave him for dead.

Another step on solid ground; her thoughts repeating like a mantra 'fix the S.H.I.E.L.D. Base' in her head - anything to get her mind of Barton's situation. She felt the disturbed dirt become solid once more

"Miss Jiru?" Phil's hand was on her shoulder, impeding her progress. "What are you doing?"

"Fixing the hole." She smirked at her lame answer. "Fury said that non-essential personnel were to stay behind and clean up…he also said we were at war. I'm going to use my dimensional powers just to speed things up here."

Not waiting for Phil's answer, she took off running, trusting her diamond-stored power to re-construct the ground beneath her. In the back of her mind, she remembered she hadn't quite tested this power completely…oh well.

XXX

Miles away, Loki gazed thoughtfully at the pathetic human super base he had just left in ruin. Smiling at a dim flash of light, the Trickster god knew what his future queen was doing; fixing what he had destroyed. He was going to enjoy playing with her bleeding heart, strip her of her godlike powers and break her to his own will.

"All in good time, my dear. All in good time."


	9. Rules

_Chapter 8: Rules_

Waking up in unfamiliar places was a bad habit she _fervently_ needed to break. Opening her eyes to stare at a very metallic smelling metal wall wasn't the best way to analyze where she was. Also, waking up on a not-so-comfortable mattress gave her a sour mood for the place. Looking around the small area, she took in the fact that she was in a utilized ship-bunk; which was odd, because this room actually had space. In her head, military bunks were cramped and narrow hallways. This area was small, yet big enough to hold three standing people; the shelf-bunk attached to the wall opposite the door. At her head was a simple table with a boring lamp, which proved to be the only furniture in the room other than the crappy mattress and over-used bed sheets. Whoever used the room was somebody more important than her.

Groaning as she sat up on the uncomfortable bed, her brain snapped to the thoughts of last night's fiasco. Her heart wrenched in despair as thoughts of Barton shot to the surface. Clint Barton, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent archer assassin, had fallen to the dark side. Clint Barton, the man who she had – now that something bad happened to him, her thoughts made her realize – developed a crush on. Then came the memories of Loki; his blue eyes cutting into her and picking her apart. Fire shot once across her nerves, making her twitch in reaction.

"Damn it." She muttered. "That's just fantastic." Being a self-reserved woman prone to fall for the bad, deviant men wasn't something that Jiru wanted to announce to the public. Who knew how Fury would react if he knew. It wasn't like she could exactly control external stimulants.

Sliding off the shelf-unit bunk, Jiru turned her attention to herself. Thank god whomever had placed her here had the decency to keep her in acceptable public apparel: namely a dark-green S.H.I.E.L.D. shirt and uniform pants to match. The red circle with the black eagle motif patch on the shoulder was really nice to finally see up-close. It would have been ultra embarrassing if she was sleeping in her normal outfit; just a T-shirt. Along that line of thinking, the dimensional-walker brought a hand up to her chest, checking to see if her diamond disc was there…it was not.

"Crap…" she moaned, turning on her heel to check the bunk. Finding nothing under the sheets, she lifted the thin mattress to look. Still nothing. "Double Crap."

It was then the small room's door open to allow unknown S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel to enter the room. Three nameless soldiers stood outside the room, guns in their hands and visors over their eyes. Their apparel, army cameo fatigues looked the same from the night before. The middle soldier, the shortest of the trio, stepped forward and lifted his goggles. His face was rather generic, giving into the biased look of a shaved-head army recruit. Grey-blue eyes shifted not an inch as his gaze was sharp and critical. A beak-like nose sat under his pock-marked forehead, overwhelming his wide, close-lipped mouth.

"Agent Jiru, if you would follow us, Director Fury would like to speak with you." The man said briskly. "I would prefer there be no trouble from you."

"…" Jiru sighed to herself exiting the door to follow the soldiers. Her mood was rather discombobulated and that left her feeling flustered. "Why the guns?" The sight of guns left her feeling rather nervous and scared, like she was under arrest.

"Director Fury wanted to insure your protection." The left-most soldier answered her. The man's voice was certain, sharp and informative. "The stunt you pulled back at the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. base was really something."

"Oh." The dimensional-walker allowed herself a tiny degree of relief. Her eyes took in the sights as the three soldiers escorted her away from the room she woke up in. The hallway, a steel-blue hue, flanked both her sides. The floor was metallic too, and hearing her own footsteps ring on the metal floor, the dimensional walker judged herself to be on some sort of navy ship. There was that tiny, uncanny – unexplainable – sense that she wasn't on solid land anymore. The steel blue walls making the hallway stretched on for a few more yards before giving way to glass window panes – windows that looked down into a big lower level spread.

"Oh wow." Jiru stopped in her step, feeling her eyes going wide at the sight that the glass offered her.

The lower level looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. The rounded rows of computer terminals and their big screens showed technical mumbo-jumbo, the people manning the keyboards were all wearing S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms, giving them a rather identical polish. The few people who weren't sitting down at a computer screen were walking about the steel floors, conferring with others about information either on a screen or in a person's hand. The center piece balancing the room was a raised platform which had two movable computer screens sitting on the edges. That lifted platform would most likely be for the captain of this high-end battleship; because what she was on was now undoubtedly a sea-vessel. Looking farther beyond the rows of computers, Jiru viewed out another set of windows and out to the sea. The ocean's water sat below the outer window's bottom, but the water was easily seen nonetheless. The outer windows also had more reinforcement, with their huge steel beams holding the arched, curving front in its place.

"It is impressive, isn't it, Miss Jiru."

Turning around to find Director Fury watching her, Jiru shrugged and clasped her hands behind her; for lack of anything else to do. She watched plainly as Fury waved away her soldier escort and step up besides her, leaning on the inner window railing watching S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel below.

"It's called the Helicarrier, Miss Jiru. It's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s home-base." Fury shared nonchalantly. "It's nearly as expensive as your starburst diamond." He then showed her the small round disc within a clear high-grade container the size of a pack of gum. The diamond disc within sparkled from the surrounding light.

"Do I get that back?" She asked, eyeing the small container.

"Not just yet, kid, not just yet." Fury shook his head and replaced the container back into the inner jacket pocket he produced it from. "I might need it to pay for Helicarrier repairs."

Smirking at his clever little joke, Jiru felt herself be disarmed by Fury's relaxed manner; the man had better be joking. Shaking her head and looking once again out the inner windows, then the outer window panels; before leaning against the railing. "It's certainly big and expensive enough to be your secret base."

"Good, because you'll be staying here until we solve our current Tesseract crisis." His voice changed on a dime; becoming serious and grave. Turning his dark brown eye at her, he gave her a look that meant she had no choice.

"Uh, why?"

"Because I said so." Fury answered her. "Miss Jiru, if you would follow me to my office, I would have you answer a few nagging questions I've had since last night."

Groaning to herself, feeling in a world of mega trouble, the young cerulean haired woman had no choice but to follow Fury as the man brushed past her, walking to where-ever his office was. Below, a suddenly appearing Coulson looked up at her and gave a smile. The agent was holding a cell phone to his ear, and seemed to be waiting for the other person to answer. Waving back at him, Jiru had a thought that; whatever was going to happen next, she was thoroughly embroiled in.

XXX

Trailing Director Fury into a side office, the cerulean haired agent suddenly realized she was hungry. Looking around the room and seeing nothing edible, she pouted to herself before registering that Fury was already sitting behind a grey-metal table.

"Oh crap." She hissed to herself. The room was none other than a supped-up interrogation room decorated to look like a plush CEO corporate office suite. The shelves on the walls held pseudo books, knick-knacks most likely made from high-end plastics and filing cabinets. Although the floor had warm tan-red carpeting, it was so very thin; barely hiding the cold steel beneath. Well placed lighting did little to dissuade her of the room's bad vibes.

"Please, have a seat, Miss Jiru." Fury stated strongly from his seat on the other side of the grey metal table that separated him and her.

"Director Fury…I…" Jiru all but broke down in her apprehensive confusion. Her imagination ran wild with positive, absurd and negative scenarios.

"Take and seat and let me tell you something." Fury motioned to the cushioned chair opposite him. Then, as a S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel walked in and handed Fury an insanely thick document; Jiru took that seat, feeling horribly miserable. Seconds pushed onward into minutes as Fury read a few pages from the file handed to him.

"Uhm…" Jiru squirmed under the silent treatment. Fury looked up from the documents and pinned his one sharp eye on her.

"The way I see it, Miss Jiru, I have no idea what to do with you." The tone of his voice sounded annoyed. "On one hand, you have single-handedly saved the lives of over fifty S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers and personnel, saved S.H.I.E.L.D. billions of dollars that would have otherwise been spent in repairs and gained S.H.I.E.L.D.-wide notoriety. On the other hand: you have left me with very little choice but to not only question your loyalty, but to expose you to -" Fury paused mid-speech, placing his head in his hands and massaging his forehead. "Hell, kid, my superiors are ordering me to treat you like a weapon of mass destruction."

"You're not going to kill me, are you?" Jiru's nerves hummed with both shame and confusion. Her body's chemistry warring with the fact she was rather hungry.

"No, Miss Jiru; nobody is going to kill you." Fury once again looked up and at her; annoyance pasted on his face. "You are, however, going to find your life become extremely complicated in the next few months."

Looking at Fury's face, the young woman couldn't quite meet his eye. Having Fury rebuke her like he was made her feel absolutely awful and for the life of her, couldn't figure out what she had done to make this hard-edged man so disappointed in her.

"Are you mad because I did what I did back at the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. base?" She finally managed to stop focusing on the shame and open her mouth. "Because I'm not sorry I did it. I can't explain HOW I did it, but I'm not sorry I did. Everybody was freaked out and you said that people were hurt, then Coulson told me that Bir-Clint was compromised…"

"Now wait just a damn minute." Fury moved the thick documents out of the way and leaned forward. "You think I'm this upset for your unexplainably powerful-god-like rescue of my resources?"

"Um, yes."

"No, I am not. I am supremely astonished that you had the balls – pardon my speech – to single-handedly fix a military-funded base and save my subordinates and money." Fury offered her a crooked, strained smile. "No, for that I am ever so grateful. However, I am upset over the fact that you did something big enough to make it now impossible for me to hide your existence to my superiors. Along with the fact that certain events these past few nights have left me questioning your integrity and your motives."

"My what?" Lack of food didn't make Jiru's mind any sharper.

"Loki." Fury stated simply.

"What about Loki?"

"He knew who you were." The disgruntled director said. "He called you his queen."

"Really?" Jiru felt her shame transform into frustration and disbelief. "What?"

"Last night, at 2100 hours, Loki came out from the Tesseract Portal and called you his queen." Fury calmly stated on.

"That doesn't mean anything. Does it?"

"Yes it does. It tells me that he has an interest in you."

"Swell…an alien stalker."

"And as such, you shall have an escort bodyguard until further notice." Fury leaned back in his chair, looking over her shoulder. Jiru turned and smiled as none other than Coulson appeared to – in her mind – save the day.

"Good day, Miss Jiru; Director." The calm and collected agent nodded to the two of them. The brown-haired man then stepped further into the over-decorated interrogation room and set three mugs of coffee on the table. "I brought coffee."

"Thank you very much, Agent Coulson." Fury answered evenly and reached over to grab the closest mug and gulped down a mouthful. "Did you reach Agent Romanov?"

"Yes I did. She has her mission." Coulson answered the director as if nobody else was in the room.

"Good. You know what your directives are, Agent Coulson." Fury continued, looking at the other man.

"Yes. I do." Coulson nodded briskly, and remained standing beside her. "Where do I take Agent Jiru?"

"She is no longer an agent." The dark-skinned director flicked his uncovered eye at her and then back to Coulson. "I just now fired her for legal reasons."

Having settled for staring vaguely at the remaining two coffee mugs, Jiru flinched as she processed what Director Fury had just said.

"What?!" She threw her eyes up and looked startled. She felt Coulson's presence move closer to her, as if he was minutely trying to offer support.

"Yes, you are no longer a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Miss Jiru." Fury focused on her again. "Your actions at the base have left me no option. You tore your hidden identity wide open and as such, I have to take drastic measures to insure not only your safety but your continued good behavior."

"I…I don't understand, I'm fired from S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"I don't expect you to understand, Miss Jiru." Fury seemed to relax and take another shot of his coffee. "There were rules pertaining to your continued free- stay here on Earth, and you broke a major one. Because you saved my ass in a huge way, I'm going to save yours. In short, you are fired from S.H.I.E.L.D. and put in the AVENGERS Initiative."

"Are you sure that is wise, Director Fury?" Coulson spoke up, reaching for one of the remaining two coffee mugs. "I mean…she hasn't been fully briefed on the situation."

Jiru looked at the two men as they spoke over her head. The dimensional-walker really didn't catch the full hidden messages passing between the two. She had no clue what Fury had planned for her now.

"That's quite all right, Agent Coulson. I will take it upon myself to personally debrief Miss Jiru. She will be with me for the next five hours."

"So she won't assist me in getting into Stark Tower?"

"No, Agent Coulson, you're on your own for that."

"Lovely."

XXX

Later:

"Sir, are you going to tell her that Loki knew her by name?" Coulson had informed the young woman on where to find food on the Helicarrier, and she had politely dismissed herself to find just that place. Now the two men were alone in the room.

"No, Coulson, I decided not to." Fury had let the cerulean haired woman go, after making her promise not to do anything to spontaneous – like escape the Helicarrier. "I cannot believe her to be in league with Loki; I mean she isn't the type to be ruthlessly devious – I can read her like a coded book. However, that does not dismiss the questions on just HOW Loki knew her name."

"How are we going to make sure she's absolutely clean?" The concerned agent placed his now-empty coffee mug on the metal table.

"We don't. She will." Fury leaned forward again, looking his best agent in the eye. "She knows something, and she will tell us."

"What if it's too late…"

"It won't be, Coulson…once I integrate her with the others, she'll feel comfortable enough to spill any secrets she may have."

"Wouldn't it be wiser to return her to Stark, then?"

"No, I have a better idea…"


	10. Red White & Lost

_Chapter 9: Red, White & Lost_

New York was a massive, teeming city with towering metal, glass and concrete structures, countless numbers of people in several modes of movement, and myriad colors from not only clothing, but cars, buildings and digital commercial screens. Those front-window – doesn't come cheap – displays, showing off anything from cars to clothes to the latest tech and popular food. The windows themselves were imbued with digital screens, which was slightly surprising for the young woman sitting in the black sedan S.H.I.E.L.D. car. The people walking on the worn out, busted, gum-encrusted sidewalks nary paused in their focused strides to where-ever they were going. All the window shopping was done at a passing glance, something that she had never managed to learn.

"This city really is polluted." She muttered to the driver, taking her eyes away from the over stimulation. "So gross…I could clean it up."

"Not amused, Miss Jiru." The gruff voice of the dark-skinned S.H.I.E.L.D. director answered her. "You're still not getting your diamond-disc back. You ARE on probation."

"Oh gee, thanks, Nick Fury." Jiru hissed back. Sitting in the passenger's side, watching the bits and buildings pass by the car's window. "Why are you dragging me along if I'm on probation?" Her question was asked.

It was an hour after Coulson had left her to Fury's mercies – the director had literally none for a person of her rather random disposition. Within that time, she had been tossed into the pit of classified information of the 'Avengers Initiative.' Having had only enough time to read files on 'Iron Man' and 'Captain America', Fury had decided to have her follow him. She had no clue what the director's plan was; since her interpretation of 'probation' meant she was stuck on the Helicarrier. But here she was, sitting in a car being driven to the finer side of New York City, being victim of wherever it was Fury was taking her.

"Again, not amused." Fury looked at her through his right eye – luckily the car was US-made and as such, the driver was on the left while the passenger's seat was on the right. "If I were you, I'd be grateful to get out for a while." The man meant her restriction to the Helicarrier.

"If you were me, Nick Fury; oh my god, I don't wanna even go there…S.H.I.E.L.D. would be in random craziness." She couldn't help but smile as the director cracked his own.

"Now that IS amusing." Fury chuckled after a while.

"Thanks, I do try." She snarked back at the one-eyed man, feeling her tension, some – not all, fade away. Watching as the high-rise buildings tapered off to become smaller and less-kept, she leaned back into her seat, contemplating what was going to happen next. The scene was nothing she hadn't seen before, the dumpier pieces of any city – those places built in the past and been around longer. There were still multitudes of people walking around like no-body's business, and Jiru gave an odd look at Director Fury as he turned off the main street and into a dilapidated old parking lot. The building right across the lot was, for all intents and purposes, a hair-care place – an odd place for Director Fury to stop at.

"Why are we stopping here?"

"We are stopping here because, Miss Jiru, you need to disappear." Fury turned off the car and turned fully towards her. His face looked to be deadly serious and grim; almost if he was going to regret making her 'disappear'.

"Uhm, what?" She felt her nerves on ice as she read the look on Fury's face. Seconds ticked by, her nervousness turning into fear. The S.H.I.E.L.D. director's face suddenly broke into a smile, shaking his head.

"The look on your face, kid. Priceless." The dark-skinned man chuckled. "I mean that your rather unique look needs to vanish. Since Loki may be after you, I'm putting you in witness protection. Running around with green hair isn't the best camouflage around these parts."

"Screw you, you idiot. My hair's not green, it's turquoise." Jiru fumed after figuring out that Fury was twisting words to frighten her out of her wits. "Why didn't you say so in the first place, instead of implying you were going to kill me."

"I like yanking your chain, kid." Fury chuckled again. "You are quite something."

"Yea, well, you're the one - I'm going to kick your ass, Fury. You are SO MEAN."

"If you say so." The director unbuckled his seatbelt and shook his head. "I brought you here because I need you to change your hair color; I strongly recommend you follow my plan."

Lagoon-green eyes stared incredulously at the dark-skinned director. "If you say so."

"Kid, you are a riot."

XXX

_Much Later:_

Stepping in and looking around the run down place, Jiru immediately felt like she was in a place out of time. The building, three stories high and having a shabby front wall, held a neon orange sign stating that the place was for old-school physical sports; like boxing, wrestling and a few others she quite couldn't name at the moment. The place smelled like it looked; old, musty, leathery and sweaty. The entrance had a green cage covering, so that only two people could enter at a time. Looking past the narrow entrance, she view many talismans of the sports the front sign sported; boxing gloves, helmets, benches, metal mesh lockers, thick tumbling mats, metal sitting bleachers and, in the middle back of the long room; a boxing/wrestling ring with red and black ropes enclosing it. Encircling it all, brown wood slates ran halfway up the walls, being divided but a thin wood panel before continuing upwards in faded forest-green panels.

It was fairly late in the day, and Jiru was surprised to see only one other person besides her and Fury. The man, she gauged, was six foot something (she was a horrible judge on age, height and weight), and muscled like a professional fighter. He wore rather tight dark-blue pants, a skin-fitting white shirt and had his strong hands wrapped in white gauze. Blonde hair in an old 30's-style comb-over, a stern, formed face and strong nose were all focused on the punching bag hanging from the ceiling. Jiru watched, entranced as his wholesome heavy-built body moved in time with each punch, as if the owner of those deadly fists was lost completely in thought.

"Like what you see, kid?" Fury's low voice interrupted her daze. Tearing her eyes off the rather boring – yet drool-worthy body of the solo boxer, she turned to the man beside her.

"HE is Captain America?" She asked. Inside her mental little world, she instantly judged this dimension's Captain America, his body's hunkiness and found him too wholesome and boring. It was a very tiny sliver of luck that landed her in the dimension in which the real people looked like the movie stars who played them back in her native dimension. Here, she was more attracted to faces like Tony Stark and Clint Barton; their devious personalities and oh so sexiness appealed more to her than the person who was Steve Rogers.

"Yes, he is. He'll be your new boss."

"Great."

She and Fury watched as Steve became more and more aggressive on the hanging punching bag, each punch stronger than the previous, before the bag finally succumbed to the man's strength and was sent flying across the room, its sandy innards flying loose from the upper stitching as the bag landed. Jiru gave a low, awed whistle as Steve paused from his internalized angst and moved to get a fresh punching bag from the row laid out to the upper right position of Steve's hanging bag hook.

"What's wrong, Cap, couldn't sleep?" Fury's voice cut through the silence of the empty, musty room. Jiru stepped into the larger room, following Director Fury as he stepped forward.

"I slept for seventy years, sir, I think I've had my fill." Steve finally turned to them, showing no surprise at being spoken to from the silence.

Rogers met her eyes and Jiru took a step back, immediately feeling his pale blue eyes pierce hers, allowing her to see the profoundly lost look in Steve's eyes. She had read that Steve Rogers had been cryogenized for up to seventy years, from the time of the war against the Nazis. Like her, Steve had come to the world of Now being so confused and disconnected. But unlike her, he was still native-born to the dimension.

"You should be out celebrating." Fury suggested, giving him a big smile. "Seeing the world, you know. Believe me, you of all people deserve it."

"When I went under, the world was at war." Rogers explained, turning away from her. "I wake up, they say we won." He paused sadly. "They didn't say what we lost."

"It's true; we've made some mistakes along the way. Rather big ones sometime, but we're human trying to protect ourselves from unknown threats." The director continued to talk. "Sometimes it happens. And some happen more recently than I wished."

Jiru, being as adaptable as she could be, being torn away from her own original dimension, could sympathize with Steve's look of being uncomfortable in the world. She herself had not quite been through his scenario, but had been through many more, bizarre things. But for now, she was stuck with this rather awkward feeling, having tagged along with Fury while the Director spoke familiarly with Captain America.

"So, who is the dame?" Steve's voice brought her out of her reverie. She blinked, and snapped her eyes away from Rogers's now-bare hands. Bringing her hand up to rub her nose – something to hide her slight embarrassment of catching herself staring at Steve's hands – she turned to Fury.

"Her? She's part of the Avengers Initiative. Her name is Jiru Star." Fury's gruff voice answered Captain America.

"I'm WHO now!?" Jiru found herself louder than intended. "Star?! Seriously?"

"Leave if for later, Miss Jiru." Fury glared at her. She hated when Fury continued to throw her curve balls. Jiru now – apparently – had a last name; the first she had heard of it.

"Hm." The now-brown haired woman grunted and rolled her eyes, showing how annoyed she was. "Whatever Director Fury." She was so focused on Fury that she missed it when Steve stepped closer to her, holding out his powerful hand.

"Hello, Miss Star. I'm Steve Rogers."

"Uh…" Jiru, having stuck her hands in the jean jacket being worn, looked oddly at the hand, then up at Steve's gentle, stern face. His blue eyes peered into hers as the famous Captain America studied her at closer range. Steve probably was wondering how a short female like her was doing with somebody like Nick Fury.

"Go ahead and shake his hand, kid, he don't bite." Fury's voice held a degree of amusement.

"Fury…" Jiru hissed helplessly and offered Steve a rather shy smile. "I'm Jiru Star…apparently Director Fury has given me a last name now…"

"Jiru…that is…not an American name, is it?" Steve inquired with mild curiosity. "You don't look Japanese."

"Ah…well…I'm not, it's rather a long story." Jiru reached out, shoving her mild embarrassment aside and firmly shook Steve's hand. "Sorry, I completely zoned out while Fury was talking to you, but if he says I'm Jiru Star, than I've got a new last name."

"Are you here with a mission, sir?" Steve had released her hand, judged her handshake to be firm and strong and turned to question Fury.

"I am." The black man answered.

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Rogers asked, before unwinding the tape from his other hand, turning away from her.

"We're trying to save it." Fury stepped up next to them and held out the file to the super soldier. Rogers glanced at the folder and then took it from Fury's hand. Jiru knew the instant he saw the Tesseract he would have something to say.

"Hydra's secret weapon." Rogers murmured, sitting down next to the sports bag on the bench.

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you." Director Fury explained. "Howard Stark thought what we think today, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. Something the world sorely needs at this moment."

Rogers finished reading the file and handed it back to Fury. "Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki. He's…eh, not from around here, you might say." The S.H.I.E.L.D. director commented, eyeing Jiru. "Trust me, he's one bunch of crazy." Fury's dark-skinned hands closed the file and Jiru looked down at her boots, feeling rather awkward again. "There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in." The dimensional walker lifted her head and gazed into Rogers' strong blue eyes.

"The world has gotten even stranger than you already know." Nick Fury stated.

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Rogers said cynically. Jiru smirked at the Captain America being cynical about life in the 21st century. Boy, did he have a surprise coming.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong." Fury challenged. "I've left a debriefing packet at your apartment." Rogers got up from the bench and went over to the line of punching bags.

Jiru couldn't help but stare as she watched him pick up the punching bag effortlessly and balance it on his shoulder. Rogers headed towards the door. She then watched as Steve shook his head, turning around to pick up his personal equipment and a single sand-filled punching bag. Captain America then turned to Fury and nodded a farewell.

"Is there anything else you could tell us about the Tesseract, Cap?" Fury asked a retreating Steve Rogers as he walked towards the green-caged exit.

"You should have left it in the ocean." Captain America's answer came as he left the building.


	11. Knowing the Plans

_Chapter 10: Knowing the Plan_

Fury had returned her to the Helicarrier after their brief meeting with Steve Rogers, Captain America. She had asked, once, to be able to return to the apartment Stark had set her up in, but the gruff director vehemently denied her that. The woman didn't think her request was all that big, but the way Fury reacted, it was like she asked for a bomb; so she was back on 'house-arrest'.

Sitting on the same small bunk she had woken up in this morning wasn't something she would have expected. But here she was, occupying the space on the crappy blue-colored S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued sheets, staring at the room-computer's thin panel of screen showing her the visuals of the people she would be working with while Fury had her in the 'Avengers Initiative'. Director Nick Fury had shoved all the information in attempts to education her of the individuals S.H.I.E.L.D. had deemed apropos to be in the Avengers. She had a certain level of clearance to be even watching the vids and viewing the personal info. The two profiles Jiru were currently viewing: Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov.

Staring at the short, thirty-something second video of the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents back-to-back, in what looked like a third-class country temple; she watched as the fiery-red-headed – gorgeous – woman fired away professionally with two deadly hand pistols. Her facial profile left little to the imagination, she was that flawless. Her short-cut red hair flounced sharply in her razor bright eyes as she shot at whatever off-screen aggressors were pestering her and Barton.

Clint Barton, right there next to the red-headed 'Black-Widow', looked just as deadly and focused as his partner; using the black bow with furious accuracy. Matching Black Widow move per shot, Barton worked seamlessly with the woman. Jiru figured that his arrows were just as fatal as her bullets. Thinking how true that was only hurt her deeper than any bullet – or arrow – could reach. The two agents were so in tune to each other that it looked – to her – like nothing in the world could tear them apart.

Jiru had yet to meet Agent Romanov, but held no doubt that the woman had claimed Barton for her own; and the dimensional walker could only feel like a third, awkward stranger, trying to forge any relationship with Barton. How could she even feel like she had a chance, when a deadly beautiful woman like Natasha already had sway over Barton. Jiru obviously jumped to that self-defeating conclusion just by reading between the lines in that video of Black Widow and Hawkeye. She now felt so stupid in her previous attempts at Barton.

Next, there was the synopsis of the infamous physicist, Doctor Bruce Banner. Jiru knew from back in her native dimension that Bruce Banner was the Hulk, a fictional character; but on this planet it was shockingly startling to see the real deal. The video that S.H.I.E.L.D. had designated as the main clip showed the green-skinned giant battling the cliché army tanks and throwing the heavy treaded tires like pebbles. The location was some green-grassed college university in some unnamed city and the dimensional walker could see hapless people in the back ground, far away from the clash, but still there to show that the place had by-standers.

Bruce Banner's other, more normal profile described to her a man whose fear and uncertainties were worn on his face. Jiru found her curiosity piqued as she found Banner's profile rather charming and handsome; with his sturdy forehead and curly brown hair. His brown eyes held so much pain and frustration that Jiru could almost sympathize with him. In the here and now, Stark's dimensional walker was possibly going to meet the awesome Hulk for the very first time. It made her go cross-mind when the woman thought of all avenues of possibilities of what would-could-should happen if she came face to face with Bruce Banner. A few of those thoughts leaned towards having a crush on the eerily familiar profile that reminded her two people in one face.

Next, there was Iron Man's file. It was enlightening to see more aspects of Tony Stark of which she had never seen; things that happened to the billionaire in the past, like his shrapnel wound and the night-fight with that metal behemoth of Stane's creation. Then Stark's second encounter with Whiplash and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intervention with saving Stark's life by giving him a nudge with a new element. It was astounding to actually read the details of how close Stark was to dying. Jiru breathed a prayer of thanks to that set of luck. If Stark HAD died, then who would have rescued her from her freezing death in the Arctic? The dimensional walker now felt she knew more about Tony Stark than she ever would gleam from the public media.

Flipping to the next data package, the now-brown-haired woman smiled gently to herself as Steve Roger aka Captain America came onscreen. Having finally met the man himself, she felt rather perplexed at how lost and vulnerable Steve looked. Thoughts flitted through her mind about Steve and his unique situation. The files said he had been cryogenized for seventy years, and how S.H.I.E.L.D. found and de-thawed him, making a lousy attempt to ease the poor man into the 21st century world. Of course, a person with the Super Serum coursing through his veins wasn't one much to take the trickery, and found himself engulfed in such an alien world from what he once knew. No wonder Steve came across as angry back in the old sports building.

The next profile S.H.I.E.L.D. had given her was Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder. The knowledge pertaining to Thor wasn't all that interesting, given how one of the images given was him kissing a woman. Even though hammer-welding blonde god was absolutely an eye full, Jiru knew when a man was off limits. Whatever she knew of Thor was going to come from what she already knew from legends on her dimension. Norse God of Thunder; boring, simple and moving on. Jiru didn't care to linger on something that would make her think of…Loki.

The last file…REALLY caught her interest: hers.

"What the crap?"

Leaning forward to view closely the video that S.H.I.E.L.D. had under her file, Jiru blanched. It was from back in the sixties, and grainy to boot. It showed her in a small, white-walled room, being interrogated like some war spy. Several armed men were in the room, flanking the only entrance/exit, their 60's-style guns all pointed at her by those trained men. Shivering as the grainy video brought back those horrid memories, Jiru skipped watching the rest. Nobody like her should have ever gone through such nerve-grating treatment. Of course, being thrown around the dimensions like a wind-blown paper, she should be used to distrust among the native population. Jiru was glad that it wasn't Nick Fury who was in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. – and her treatment – back then; it would have made her return rather awkward.

The hate between her and Fury would have been very difficult to manage. Rather, she was relieved that the man who WAS in charge back then was nowhere to be found. Like Phil Coulson said, her treatment from S.H.I.E.L.D. in the 60's was horrendous and wasn't the best way to forge a mutual partnership with a person who held the power of the stars.

"Miss Jiru?" There was a knock at the door, and she turned towards it. Phil Coulson stood there, watching her carefully.

"Oh, hi." Finding herself yawning thrice in a row, she leaned back from the screen – and her thoughts.

"Hello." Coulson smiled professional at her, glancing at the computer screen. "Reading up on the Avengers?"

"Yes, I am."

"I just got back from Stark Tower." The agent sat comfortably next to her. "Stark says hi."

"Is that all he said?" Jiru smirked as her thoughts about Tony Stark jumped around in her head. The man was such a turn on for her and it was difficult to NOT think of doing… – sleeping with him.

"No."

"How was he?" She pressed further.

"Good, good. He misses you."

"Oh, really?" The woman turned away, feeling embarrassed. Tony totally was into her like a shiny new toy, and it was kind of flattering.

"He really finds you fascinating Miss Jiru. Many of us do." Coulson nodded seriously. "I like your hair by the way. When did you get it colored?"

Of course a sharp individual like Phil would notice something like her now dark-brown hair. Anybody with two eyes would.

"Oh, Director Fury made me do it. Something about witness protection and stuff." Jiru answered honestly. "He made me change the color of my hair."

"I see."

A comfortable pause lingered between them, then…

"Why am I still here?" Jiru asked.

"Did you meet Steve Rogers?" Coulson asked.

They both spoke simultaneously and they both smiled at the humor. Jiru brought a hand up to cover her smile as Phil looked at her. Of course Coulson would be interested in her meeting with Captain America. The agent was obsessed with the man.

"You first, Miss Jiru." Coulson waved a hand indicating the conversation was hers.

"I was wondering why I'm still involved in all this. I really thought I would be back working at Stark Tower. I mean, from reading the files, I feel so…small fry. Fury's got a god, two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents – Hawkeye and Black Widow – then he's got thee Captain America – which by the way, is really clean-cut and polite – and Iron Man and finally…the Hulk. They all look like powerhouses to me; and Fury still has my powers on probation. And furthermore, I just learned my last name is Star. I'm feeling rather confused here and I don't know what to think about what Fury is planning to do with me."

"Oh." Coulson listened intently and smiled at her. "Please don't feel like you're worthless Miss Jiru. You aren't. Not to me."

"I don't feel worthless, I just feel like I'm being moved around like an ignoramus. I get the feeling Fury is mad at me for something."

She and Fury had a previous evening's discussion about what happened at the base in New Mexico, and questions had been asked about the aggressor, Loki. Jiru had explained that she didn't know who he was, but found it disturbing that the Tesseract thief was interested in her.

"Miss Jiru, if I may offer my thoughts." Coulson looked at her thoughtfully and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We know you had nothing to do with what Loki did, but not everything is black and white. Please don't feel like you're responsible for what that madman did. I know you've helped S.H.I.E.L.D. out in a big way during the Tesseract crisis in New Mexico; Director Fury is completely convinced you are some sort of goddess."

"Say what!?" Jiru reeled back, surprised. "I'm not a goddess!"

"Some agents would think otherwise." Coulson input. "You rebuilt the whole P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Base after it collapsed. No one around can do that. S.H.I.E.L.D. intelligence is still trying to figure out just how you did that." Jiru had seen the night-dark surveillance from that night, and she, among others, found it most odd that any glass that had been broken was not fixed. Whole buildings were recovered, the sinkhole from the Tesseract energies unmade and everything was back – basically – to how it was before the portal opened. The only evidence left from the fiasco was broken glass. Somehow or rather, Jiru's Re-struction power had not affected the glass; and was the only part to remain broken.

"But I thought you said this planet had super heroes."

"It does, but nothing of your caliber." Coulson responded.

"That's it, I give up. It's late and I'm tired." Her hands came up to rub her face tiredly. "I'm sorry to be so random. I'm just super worried about Bir-Agent Barton."

"We all are, Miss Jiru." Coulson patted her hand. "You needn't worry about that. We have agents working on finding him."

"Good."

"But for now, since enemy forces are interested in you, Director Fury has opted to keep you safe and close."

"I've noticed."

"Please have patience with us, Miss Jiru. I understand you want to explore and go looking for Agent Barton." Phil looked her in the eye. "But Fury has a war on his hands and you're a possible ace in the hole. He is trying to figure out the extent of your powers and the best way to use them in this situation. He understands you aren't a soldier."

"What does Fury plan to do with me? He's been on edge since Loki stole the blue cube. Is he mad at me for something?" She and Coulson stared at each other, and her lagoon eyes turned away first, blinking with exhaustion. "I'm sorry, I know S.H.I.E.L.D. is at war and stuff, but I don't know what Fury wants me to do."

"Miss Jiru, you are perfectly safe here, and don't have to do anything you don't want to do. However, Fury would…S.H.I.E.L.D. would appreciate it if you continue to help us out."

Before she could respond, Coulson stood up from the bed and gave her his kind, friendly smile.

"But don't worry about it now, Miss Jiru. It's late and you should get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be rather busy and I would like your help."

"Oh, ok." Jiru canted her head sideways and smiled back. "You're such a busy body, P.C., so professional and focused."

"Why thank you, Miss Jiru." Coulson nodded at the complement. "You are a sharp-minded person yourself, never doubt that. Now get to sleep and expect a busy day tomorrow."

"Ok…P.C. I'll do that." The young woman smirked to herself and reached over to turn the compu-server off. "Good night…boss."

"Good night, Miss Jiru."


	12. Going Green

_Chapter 11: Going Green_

_The stars in the black sky were beautiful enough to bring tears to her eyes. Jiru craned her head back, staring into the forever-ness of space; taking in the sight of what had to be a whole nebula's worth of stars. The whole panorama of such galactic skies made her heart ache with its cosmic beauty. Black backdrop holding swathes of yellows, reds, purples and whites sat silently for her vision to admire._

_Tearing her watery, awed eyes away from the nebulous sight, she turned to discover where she was. The ground, silent as the sky, was dark; having no particularly nearby sun to illuminate its surface. The only sources of light were the galactic sky and…inset blue orbs of what seemed to be electricity. Jutting slate-black rocks decorated the landscape; reminding her of barren desolate mountainous tundra and termite mounds – there was no sign of any plant life or animals. It was all just dark rock and starry darkness, tinted with a blue phosphorescence. Turning around, Jiru saw something that made her flinch and duck behind a large pillar-like rock._

_Yards away, there stood two bi-pedal beings; one whose back was to her and the other – ugly and alienistic looking – facing her, talking to the other. Behind the two beings was a tall cliff, with a set of stairs carved into its face, leading up towards empty space. It was very disconcerting to see the rocky steps hang in midair. Turning her eyes back downward to see the two figures moving about, as if they were talking, her body finally shivered in the cold that only dead space could produce._

_Where was she? WHEN was she? And why?_

_Deciding to creep closer, the dimensional walker found herself suddenly closer, like she was dreaming the whole thing. Now nearer, she could easier discern the two bipedal beings apart: One was – undoubtedly – Loki, wearing the same green and gold long duster-jacket with leather armbands and boots that he wore when he appeared from the Tesseract portal in New Mexico – the only difference was the large dual-horned helmet on his head. The second creature, far less pleasant looking than Loki; was a blue-skinned malicious, seven-digit-per-hand alien. The face, thankfully, was covered by some slit-eye mask, and the blue-black cloak around its tall body hid the rest of its extremely tall physique. She didn't care to see any more of the alien than what was visible._

_Jiru hated dreams like this – she was indeed in another realm of mind, the Astral Realm of Dreams. Sometimes it happened, pulling her awareness – omniscient like – into another's dealings. Nagging the back of her dream-sharpened consciousness, she blamed Loki – the Lie-Smith had found it to be his pleasure to drag her here, allowing her to spy on the little starry scene._

_It would be so cliché, had she been able to hear an uttered language between the two – she did not. Moving herself to get even closer, her body flinched as a hand, pale and warm, clamped over her mouth, disallowing her a chance to cry out or move. Craning her head over her shoulder, she blinked to see none other than Loki. The Asgardian-based God of Lies was behind her, balancing himself on one knee, while his other leg was bent. Being startled, her eyes flickered back towards the alien and…Loki? Loki, in full leather gear and helmet, was still posturing, talking to the towering ugly alien._

_Looking once again behind her to the second Loki, Jiru studied his profile. Unlike the sharp cruel blue eyes she had seen in New Mexico, the Loki behind her had green, more mischievous orbs. His hair was longer and fuller. The smile on his face was full of kind humor and directed at her. Tensing her whole body as the Loki behind her leaned in closer, she prepared herself to retaliate – after all, wasn't Loki the aggravator, the villain who stole the Tesseract and killed people? Lagoon-green eyes watched – movement per movement – as the green-eyed Loki silently brought his other hand up to his own lips, placing a single finger in the universal sign of 'quiet'._

_Holding that finger over his lips for a few, long seconds, Jiru was quite surprised when felt herself nodding in agreement. Green-Eyed Loki's eyes brightened as both his hands were lowered; the hand over her mouth coming off. She was supposed to be dreaming, so anything that happened at this point shouldn't come as that big of a surprise. Her brain didn't really care to exert itself to work out just how there were two Loki-s. Instead, her body reacted by leaning further into Loki's presence; responding by pushing endorphins through her blood. She was mildly aroused when Loki snaked an arm around her waist, drawing her even closer against his strong chest._

"_My little Lovey. You should not be here." Loki's near-silent breath of words tickled her ear. She inhaled sharply, feeling every point of contact between her back and his front torso. "If the Chitauri find you again, they will not be so kind."_

_Chitauri? Find again? What was Loki talking about…- It was then that it all came back:_

_The running in fear, confusion in a hostile dimension: finding Loki, having feelings for the God, hearing his whole story and sympathizing with him; offering her own wisdom on his situation. She had traveled with Loki for three dimensions, before they both ran afoul of the Chitauri…-the horrible, war-like aliens had caught them off-guard and planned to experiment on her and her powers. Loki had used his silver tongue to negotiate her freedom and in doing so, had tricked the Chitauri to free her, using his newly negotiated power to teleport her to Earth._

"_So you do remember, lovey." Loki's voice slithered into her ear, his hair brushing against her temple. The look of her eyes must have told Loki that she did indeed remember him._

"_What will you do now, Lovey; that you remember!"_

XXX

"AAAHGGH!"

Bolting upright in the rather uncomfortable bunk she had fallen asleep in, her brain swirled for infinite seconds, sharply – instantly – remembering the dream. Neurons continued to fire from nerve to nerve, and the wakefulness state overcame her senses. The dream quickly faded into the back of her mind, but remand in knowledge.

"Ugh…stupid dreams." Her fist came up to her forehead as she lightly tapped her skull over and over again, in a vain attempt to possibly knock out the dream-knowledge. "Stupid, stupid, stupid – Loki. Stupid. Why me." Bringing her other hand up to join the first, the young woman rubbed her face, working her sleepiness away. "Ugh."

Finally being awake enough to look around – half-expecting the dangerously clever Loki to be sitting in a chair, smirking at her – Jiru sighed when she only found herself in the same small Helicarrier room she had gone to sleep in.

There was a knock at the door and she sat up straighter, folding her legs up to lean her arms over. "I'm awake and stuff."

Phil Coulson entered and gave his glamorously bright smile.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Phil spoke. "It's nearly lunchtime."

"HA! You're so funny." With her brain fully awake due to her bolting-from-R.E.M. sleep, she was snarky – somebody as alert and sharp as Phil catching her being remiss was slightly embarrassing. "Why are you so smiley, P.C.?"

"Oh, no reason." The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent stepped into her small room, allowing her to view that he was carrying a duffel bag – a S.H.I.E.L.D.-labeled duffel bag.

"What's that?"

"Since you were unable to return to your apartment; I took the liberty of gathering a few of your personal items this morning." He answered her.

"Huh." Jiru smiled and rubbed her face again, sliding out of the bunk before she realized she wasn't wearing any pants – just panties. The young woman wasn't expecting herself to A. oversleep so late to have her best friend (a person who wakes up every DAY at five A.M) to have enough time to run to her apartment flat, grab whatever it was he had in the bag, B. have someone just plain walk in when she had yet to change from her sleep gear.

"Uhm." Her blood rushed to her head, when her brain processed she was in nothing but a long blue shirt. "Thanks."

"That's quite alright, Miss Jiru; I've seen worse." Phil said calmly, nothing in his face changed or indicated any interest or distress. The man had a damn good poker face.

"Say what!? Are you saying I'm ugly?" She had blushed while grabbing the weak blue sheet that S.H.I.E.L.D. passed off as a bed cover. Wrapping that around her underdressed form, she stepped forward to grab at the black bag Phil held in his hands.

"I did not say anything like that, Miss Jiru." Phil continued to smile – and waited at the last second to move the duffel bag out of her reach. He was teasing her.

"P.C.!"

"Yes, Miss Jiru?" Coulson's voice was calm and even. "Is there something wrong?"

"What are you DOING?" She once again reached for the duffel bag, having it elude her grasp again.

"I'm not doing anything, Miss Jiru." NOW she could hear the amusement in the agent's voice.

"Very funny, Phil." She had stepped back, took one look at his face and smirked at the agent. "Ah, now I see it. You've met Steve Rogers, your face is all a-light."

"Am I really that obvious?" Phil's smile lessened – he couldn't talk and smile that wide at the same time.

"Yea, you've got that look in your eyes, P.C." Jiru teased back. "You always get that look when you talk about Captain America."

"Well, I can't help it." Phil finally held the bag out to her. "He is Captain America."

"Well, duh. Steve Rogers is Captain America and Captain America is Steve Rogers. The way you go on about it, a person would think they are two separate people."

"But he isn't." Phil nodded as she took and tossed the bag on the bed. "Anyway, Director Fury wants you on the bridge."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere wearing just a shirt…"

"You look quite nice in just a shirt, Miss Jiru." Phil interrupted her. Jiru paused, her hands in the bag looking for clothes; then slowly looked back at Phil.

"Did you just…"

"Offer a compliment, I did." Coulson stood in front of the door, hands clasped together at his waist in his 'at-ease' pose. His poker face was still in place.

"I was going to say…"

"Flirting, no, Miss Jiru. That would be against company policy if two personnel were to say such things to each other."

"Yea, if you say so." She smiled, turning back to her duffel bag to get dressed. "Wow, thanks P.C. You sure do know how to plan."

Indeed, the sharp-minded agent had packed correctly; her comfortable clothes were in the bag, shoes too. Phil was a life-saver, because he had packed a few of her books, her music player and toiletry kit. Since the Tesseract event in New Mexico, she had been void of her personal stuff (S.H.I.E.L.D. had confiscated her luggage for some obscure reason) and had been wearing impersonal S.H. .D.-issued clothes. Now she had her stuff back and it was awesome.

"You're quite welcome, Miss Jiru." Phil answered back.

"Well, let me get dressed, and then something to eat, then I'll go see whatever it is Fury wants from me."

XXX

_Helicarrier Bridge:_

Stepping onto the metallic bridge, followed by Phil Coulson, the young woman was smiling brightly – Helicarrier food was really dang decent. Salads, protein bars and tea to sandwiches and fresh fruit; she had to give credit to Director Fury for stocking his secret base with great food. Having slept through the first morning meal; she was ravenous and took more than thirty minutes to eat her fill. Coulson, of course, stuck with her the whole time – something about her charming presence and escort rules.

Finally on the huge deck she saw through the windows yesterday, her amazement soared at the warmth and bustling energy vibes the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were emitting as the numerous staff ran around running the hulking – now in the process of flying – Helicarrier bridge. A few of them were calling statistics out to as other workers focused on their computer screens.

Analyzing the deck more, she found out that it was divided into two parts; upper and lower. The upper portion of the deck was raised by at least five steps and sported plenty of walking space, railings separating the lower from upper and a huge round table, marked with the S.H.I.E.L.D./eagle emblem that was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s icon. In front of that round table was an extended platform, open to the lower level and had steps to join it. The platform looked like the main focal point for…indeed; Director Fury was standing in front of the platform's two mobile computers, staring down at the numerous Helicarrier workers.

"Sir, we're at level." A woman – looking very sharp and focused – reported. Director Fury stood on the bridge between his two computer screens, his one eye surveying the computer-filled deck.

"Good, let's vanish." The director ordered, sounding very powerful.

"Holy CRAP! This thing turns invisible!?" Jiru gasped as she saw out the front windows. The sight of the ocean changed, growing smaller as the sky, the lighter blue horizon, grew larger. Her senses told her that the ship was lifting itself out of the ocean AND refracting the local light. "I should have guessed."

"Yes, it does, Miss Star." Director Fury's voice took her attention from the outside view to him. The dimensional walker smiled to herself as the already present Steve Rogers was in the process of handing Fury a ten dollar bill – a lost bet the two men had made about weird things. Poor Captain America; Steve Rogers was still taking 21st century life minute by minute. Now that she thought about it, when DID Steve Rogers enter the large room…she hadn't been paying attention.

"Captain, sorry to say this, but this isn't the weirdest thing you'll see here." She commented when the man drifted over to her. The table stood to their left, putting itself between her, Rogers and Fury.

"I don't doubt that, Miss Star, not one bit." The blonde soldier turned to her and smiled. She offered a smile back; her initial shyness from before completely disarmed. No wonder Coulson was fanatic about the man; Steve Rogers was one of a kind…-to call her by the surname of which Fury was so kind to give her. Jiru Star.

"If you two are finished?" Fury interrupted her before she could speak further. "What is the status, Agent Coulson?"

Turning away from Rogers, Jiru spotted her ever-on-the-move friend. Coulson had gone from walking behind her to being on the bridge, interacting with the various computer workers on the lower level.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet; cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to be a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us." Coulson explained.

"You have to narrow the field, yes." A new voice explained, masculine and strong. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?" She turned to the source and mentally reeled.

The speaker, a head taller than her, was very nervous looking, as if being on the metallic bridge was going to get him in huge trouble. But that wasn't what made her step back; it was the powerful feeling of emotional recognition, as if she had met the man in another dimension. Looking closer at the seemingly nervous man, she got the impression he was a scientist of some nuclei-physics or Quantum Mechanics subject; something beyond her scope of understanding. From his brown eyes to his tousled salt-brown hair to his muscled white-shirted arms, this man was clearly brilliant enough to be talking like he was – she would have to look up the definition of 'spectrometers.'

"How many are there?" Fury asked the man.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays." The brown-haired man told Fury, as he removed his jacket, draping it over his muscled arm. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?"

"Oh good god…what the what?" Jiru hissed in shock; earning a curious, reproachful look from Steve Rogers, who was close enough to hear her. "HE'S Bruce Banner!?"

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys." Yet another voice entered the fray. Turning to her right, Jiru groaned inwardly to when her eyes finally were introduced to Agent Romanov. The woman was killer beauty, like her code name: Black Widow. The S.H.I.E.L.D. files didn't do her justice at all. The hue of the woman's red hair was absolutely intriguing, and the black suit she wore – the one which hugged all her curves – was enough to make even Jiru blush.

Watching as the woman…- Agent Romanov move past her and Rogers, the dimensional walker caught herself staring in mild jealousy as Bruce Banner – he had yet to say something to her – casually follow the red-headed agent to a door way off-set the upper deck. Her emotions roiled out – wanting to follow Bruce Banner and introduce herself. The man had a deep earthy handsomeness to his face and physique and it was enough to pique her interest. Bruce's solidness made her itch to walk up to the man and study him with her eyes; to help him overcome his shame for being…-that's right; the man was none other than the Hulk.

"Miss Star?" A voice jarred her out of her daze. "Miss Star? Are you ok?"

Turning around to find Fury, Coulson AND Rogers looking intently at her; Jiru coughed and shook her head, turning away to hide the blush creeping up her neck.

"Yea, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" She felt abashed – Captain America was giving her a concerned look, like she had sprouted purple fur or something.

"You've been standing there for the past five minutes, not moving." Rogers stepped up to her and peered into her eyes.

"Oh…I…um…" Now she REALLY felt the blood heat up in her face. "I was?"

"Yes, you were, Miss Jiru." Fury interjected. "Is there something you wanted to share with us?"

"NO!" She stated hastily. "No…I don't have anything to say."

"You sure?" Fury's face became more intent. Jiru noticed that Coulson too, was curiously watching her, from Fury's side across the table.

"Yes, I am sure, Director Fury."

"Good, because I was saying I want you to work with Dr. Banner to help find the Tesseract."

"Uhm? What!?" She squeaked. "Why?"

"You rather unique powers should be able to…help Dr. Banner focus his attentions on finding the cube."

"Oh swell." Still fighting off that aggressive feeling of blushing, she rolled her eyes. Reading between the lines, she could easily see what Fury was playing at – at least she THOUGHT she knew. The S.H.I.E.L.D. leader wanted to make sure the Hulk didn't appear and cause chaos. The man was a damned bastard for implying she use her largely unknown powers to do that. "You want to me use my powers to keep Bruce Banner calm and collected?"

"No, I want you to help keep Doctor Banner focused." Fury answered her, keeping the high-and-important look on his face. "Is there going to be a problem with that?"

"No…no problem, patchy." She muttered as Coulson stepped into motion next to her. "I can handle that; no problem at all."

"Good, then you're going to need this." Fury tossed a small grey thing towards her. Being startled at the action, Jiru subconsciously reached out to catch whatever it was the black-man threw. She – thankfully – didn't make an ass of herself and actually caught the tiny object.

Looking at what she caught, Jiru looked back up at Fury. "You're giving me this?"

"Yes, Miss Jiru, I am. It should be enough to help you assist Dr. Banner."

"Lovely. Thanks a bunch Fury." She smirked at the man as her hands untwisted the Vibranium cap, pouring the rice-grain sized diamond onto her palm. Finally; FINALLY Fury had given some of the diamond back; and for what? – to keep the Hulk from showing up on the now invisible and flying Helicarrier.

"I'll show you to the lab that Dr. Banner is working in, Miss Jiru." Coulson smiled at her. "Please follow me."

"Alright, fine, well played, Fury. Well played indeed." She offered Fury one of her best smirks and turned on heel to follow Phil.

"Make sure you're not too busy flirting with the good doctor to be distracted." Fury's quip barbed her in the back.

"Curse you, Fury; May rabid geese fire missiles at your stupid HELICARRIER AND COMMANDO STORM IT TO PECK YOUR REMAINING EYE OUT AND PISS ON YOUR MUTLATED BODY!" She shouted back, not daring to turn around; thus missing the wide grin of sardonic humor that split Fury's face. The director loved provoking her snarky mouth.


	13. Emerald Fluff

_Chapter 12: Emerald Fluff_

Having reluctantly come to aid S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Tesseract hunt, Doctor Bruce Banner found – and continued to find – the whole experience nerve-wracking: from discovering that the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier actually flew to the thought of being in the enclosed in the same machine with so many innocent people; the environment was making him ever so panicky and nervous - until SHE walked onto the bridge.

The young female was rather unassuming in looks; short-statured, hair the color of dark chocolate and a carefree-ness that gave lie to the whole threat of the Tesseract issue. The young lady, to him, looked completely out the element in the harsh, back-stabbing genre that made of S.H.I.E.L.D. However, Agent Romanov hadn't brought him here to be morally loose; just how the young brunette who had bounced into the room with enough charming persona to steer his thoughts in THAT direction…- Bruce shook his head and focused on what was being spoken.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet; cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to be a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Bruce looked over, past the bubbly young woman and focused on a sandy-brown haired male; Agent Coulson was the man's name.

"You have to narrow the field." Banner spoke up, clearing his throat. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

In reaction to hearing his voice, the young woman whirled around to face him and Bruce mentally winced as she took a step back. Oh yes, she KNEW Bruce had that monster inside him. Her eyes, however, didn't radiate fear, but awe and…attraction!? That was as surprising to him as she was.

"How many are there?" Fury asked him, tearing Bruce's attention away from her.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays." Bruce announced as he removed his jacket, trying desperately to hide the sudden tell-tale tent burgeoning in his pants and keeping an eye on the young woman who was obviously the cause of it. "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?" Fury gestured with his hand.

Bruce smiled politely to the young, brown-haired woman before turning his back to her and allowing Agent Romanov to escort him to wherever it was he would be working at. It would be much better for the intriguing young woman if he didn't acknowledge her at all – much better for her…and safer. It was almost a shame he didn't catch her name before leaving the deck. Bruce would find whatever quite lab Director Fury stuck him in and focus himself completely on finding the Tesseract.

XXXX

"You really do like him, don't you, Miss Jiru?" Coulson's strong voice interrupted her stare-fest, her eyes being glued to the man on the other side of the glass.

"Is it THAT obvious?" Jiru rolled her eyes away from Bruce's earthy-strong profile and went to Coulson's smirky face.

"Yes, it is that obvious." The agent replied to her, a sly smile on his lips.

Having followed Phil through a few of the Helicarrier's metallic hallways, Jiru had left her mind to wonder about the scene back on the bridge. She had made a complete ass of herself in staring. Now she was doing it again, as the glassed-in computer/science lab came into view as she followed Coulson down the hallway. Doctor Bruce Banner was currently – over-avidly – listening to the red-headed Black Widow as the woman was pointing and explaining the numerous functions of the machines and computers housed within the crème-white lab. Although she and Coulson were right outside the glass-panel door, she really couldn't hear what was being said.

"Are you sure about this, Miss Jiru?" Coulson tuned her attention again. "I mean if you don't want to be in the same room…"

"As the Hulk, P.C. I'm surprised." She smiled lightly at him. "I'm not afraid of the Hulk…or Doctor Banner."

"-the same room as somebody as handsome as Doctor Banner without causing a hormonal scene." Coulson finished what he was saying, a smirk crossing his face.

"Oh." Jiru blushed at her mistake. "Hormonal scene…touché, P.C. Well, I'll try not to make an idiot of myself."

"I'm just teasing you, Miss Jiru." Coulson chuckled as he patted her shoulder. "Yes, it is rather obvious you have feelings for him. It's written across your face."

"Oh dear…" She blushed once again, bringing her hands to cover her face. Whatever!" Jiru tossed her hands flippantly to show she attempted to not care. "Director Fury wants me to help, so I'll do that."

"If you're sure…" Coulson implied.

"I'm sure!"

"Well then, I'll introduce you to him." Coulson held his arm out, indicating the door, which just so happened to open at that moment. "Hello Agent Romanov."

"Agent Coulson." The red-headed assassin nodded to Phil, and then faced Jiru. "Who is she?"

"Agent Romanov, this is Miss Jiru Star. She is a unique person with attributes that can help us. Director Fury convinced Stark to loan her to us."

Jiru, having let Coulson take the lead when the Black Widow asked her question, gave Agent Coulson a funny look. "Convinced Stark to 'loan' me? Oh that's funny."

"Well, Stark is very…stingy with his…" Coulson smiled at her and Romanov both.

"Say it, P.C.; Stark is stingy with his 'stuff.'" Jiru smirked.

"I wasn't going to say that, Miss Jiru." Coulson replied. "I was just trying to find the right word."

"Indeed." Natashi smiled fluidly. "So you're Agent Chirpie." The woman's eyes looked the young woman over once and came back up, locking with Jiru's own lagoon-green eyes.

"Oh. Oh yea. You're her, aren't you?" The dimensional walker felt her good mood drain away. Thoughts about Clint Barton came racing back. "Barton's partner."

"Yes, Agent Barton and I…have worked together before." The Russian woman's slight accented voice was strained and searching. "Agent Coulson informed me of your - work with Agent Barton."

Looking away from both S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Jiru sighed and rolled her eyes, feeling lousy. "I'm sorry…-I didn't manage to save him."

"Oh please, Miss Star, Barton's a big boy; he can take care of himself." Romanov gave a hidden look at Coulson; both S.H.I.E.L.D. agents clearly reading the look of raw longing on Jiru's face. It was easy to read just how much of an impression Clint Hawkeye Barton had made on the short woman.

"But Loki brainwashed him, that's insanity right there." Jiru looked back to Romanov's profile. "Barton didn't know what was coming, I could have stopped it."

"Miss Star, I don't blame you." Natasha placed a hand on the other woman's shoulder. "We'll find Agent Barton and make sure he's fixed right up."

"Well good! Because Barton's a good friend and I know he means a lot to you too." Jiru smiled again and canted her head sideways. "We'll make sure to kick Loki's ass double time for messing with Hawkeye!"

"Ah, well, in that case, Miss Jiru…" Coulson interrupted. "I suppose you had better get in there and help Dr. Banner with his spectrometers program."

XXXX

Banner, watching as the Black Widow exited the lab and ran right into Agent Coulson and the young woman, sighed to himself in resignation as it looked more and more like the intriguing young woman was headed his way. Bruce had hoped he could avoid seeing her again, much to his dismay, was secretly excited to find himself in her presence again.

"Hello, Doctor Banner." The strong steady voice of Phil Coulson greeted Banner as he and the young woman entered the lab.

"Hi, Coulson was it?" Bruce coughed twice as the sandy-haired man crossed the room and offered his hand to shake.

"Agent Phillip Coulson, yes. This is Miss Jiru Star." Coulson waved a folder-holding hand to the smiling young next to him. "She's here to assist you in finding the Tesseract."

"Indeed." Bruce nodded once, taking off his glasses now to study the young woman who was closer in proximity than comfortable.

Studying her, Banner was perplexed to find that her physique wasn't all that impressive. Miss Star was indeed shorter than many of the people on the Helicarrier, and her womanly curves were bland when compared to the shape of Agent Romanov. Her hair, wavy and nutmeg was darker than his hair coloring. Her personal scent wafted into his nose, smelling strongly of mint, lavender soap and something tangy, yet unidentifiable – almost like plasma. It was her eyes, however, that held all her energy and warmth. Bruce found her eyes the most interesting shade of green-blue yet; far too tempting to stare endlessly into.

"Hi, I'm new here." The young woman gave him a smirky grin and held out her hand. "Not really, but since Fury is basically holding me prisoner until the stupid blue cube is found, I've got really nothing better to do."

"Is that so?" Bruce murmured to himself. "Why…"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss Jiru, Dr. Banner." Coulson cut in. "I'm needed again on the bridge. Are you able to handle things here, Miss Jiru?"

"Yes, I am able to handle things here. Go do whatever it is you have to do to keep the Helicarrier in the air and invisible; P.C." Banner chuckled to himself as the young woman took charge and ran her mouth. "I'll be fine here, I promise."

"Are you sure, Miss Jiru?" Coulson turned away from Banner and towards the woman.

"YES! I'm sure as sunshine, Coulson."

"Ok. But if you need anything, just use that intercom and press 1345."

"GO be busy!" the woman laughed and lightly pushed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent towards the glass-panel door. Coulson smiled and paused at the now-open door, turning towards Bruce.

"Dr. Banner, you just send her to me if she starts flirting with you. I'll be sure to talk some sense into her. Fury told her not to bother you with flirting."

Banner, tossing a glance at the young woman who was now staring blatantly at Coulson, smiled to himself in processing Coulson's enlightening comment. The young woman was completely red in the face; cutely and obviously embarrassed that she had been called out.

"PHIL!" Jiru squawked as the agent quickly ducked out of the lab.

XXXX

Staring at the translucent tan-grey screen, watching the electric-digital pixels being active in the only way they were programmed to, her eyes flickered back and forth on the screen. It had been an hour since Phil had stuck her with Doctor Bruce Banner – fifty of those minutes had been an agonizing embarrassment fest; a delicate, restrained affront she had to put on like a mask. Coulson had basically TOLD Bruce Banner she had a bad crush on him. Since then, she had been too shy to really say much to the brilliant man.

Banner, however, was the more mature one and managed to ask for her help. Showing her the program on the screen, he politely asked her to stay there and watch for any fluxes indicating Gamma Radiation readings. Since then, the man had been ignoring her, off in his own little world.

"Ugh, this is so BORING!" Jiru finally grew restless and growled.

"Hm?" Bruce turned around on his chair and looked at her as if he had forgotten she was still in the lab. "Oh, you're still here."

"Uh, yea." Jiru looked oddly at him. "I AM helping you out here."

"Sorry." Bruce looked amused. "I was reading your S.H.I.E.L.D. profile."

"Oh really? What valuable intel. did you gleam from that?"

"It tells me that you are an obnoxious, loud-mouthed, brown-nosing, paper-shuffling, over-eating, narcissistic woman who loves nothing more than to bother me while I'm working." Bruce spewed forth the most random of insults that came to his mind, gleefully watching her face as it slowly morphed into a stunned disbelief.

"I beg your pardon?" she sputtered at him.

Banner couldn't help but smile to himself at her reaction. It had been far too quiet in the lab for the past hour, and he could tell the young woman had clammed up since Agent Coulson had dropped the hint that Miss Star did indeed have a crush on him. It was nice to have peace and quiet-…for the first ten minutes, but after that, Banner wanted to break the ice between him and her, but couldn't come up with anything worth while. But now the ice was broken, and the man intended to take advantage.

"Oh yes, your profile is most fascinating." He continued, pushing the mobile glass-slab of computer screen towards her; even though she was too far away to really read it. "It states that you are not only all of those things, but a notorious flirt."

"!" Jiru gasped.

Bruce turned slightly, as if to focus more on the screen. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has you scheduled to go pester somebody in engineering next."

"I don't believe it." The young woman sputtered more. "You actually have a sense of bite-butt humor! I'm even more infatuated than before." A pause. "You are joking right?"

The Gamma-Radiation Scientist couldn't help but hide his obvious smile with a raised hand. Miss Star's face was a delight to read as various emotions flickered – tore – across her profile: disbelief merged with amusement to a wary confusion. Banner thought whatever preconceptions she had of him were now thoroughly shattered and transformed.

"Yes, Miss Star, I am joking." Banner turned serious now, his suspicion tingling his senses. "Tell me who you really are and why you are here." The young woman narrowed her eyes at him, looked down at her hand, removed something from the back of it and sat down, sighing

"It's a long story, but I want you to know. I want to tell you so that you won't be mad at me or anything."

Bruce nodded at her words and settled more comfortably in his chair. He really was curious about the young woman and decided to listen to her story.


	14. Knowing the Stars

_Chapter 13: Knowing the Stars_

Sitting in the back-most chair as the round S.H.I.E.L.D.-logoed table had to offer, Fury had been watching the vid-feed that was inset underneath the sophisticated tabletop for the past hour. It had been two hours since his eyes in the sky had found a lead on Loki, and Fury had sent his team to Studigard(?) Germany to hopefully catch the renegade Asgardian God of Lies. Fury had opted not to send the young Miss Star along due to that fact she was his hidden ace – Loki bait. Nick Fury disliked using the naïve young woman like that, but he really hated all the other choices.

"Is she behaving, Director Fury?" Fury's best – and closest in friendship to Fury's dimensional walker – agent Coulson spoke up from Fury's left.

"Yea, she is." The one-eyed S.H.I.E.L.D. director grunted, eyeing the video feed that was coming from the science lab he had set Doctor Robert Bruce Banner in. "As I thought, she jumped right in and forged a relationship with the good doctor."

"Are you sure we should keep her out of the loop? I would hate for her to find out the hard way." Coulson kept his question brief, know that Fury was thinking the same thing Coulson was.

It was a double-edged sword for an agent like Coulson to have such a high-level clearance in S.H.I.E.L.D. politics. There were things that Fury only told Coulson and Coulson knew it was his job to keep such secrets. Many such secrets – brought to the forefront due to the young woman's planetary return – were active and ever-changing.

Fury, like Coulson, was thinking about the unique situation the dimensional walker presented S.H.I.E.L.D. with. Her star-based powers were like nothing anybody on the planet had ever experienced before – even though humanity was evolving in startling new ways like Tony Stark's Iron Man, Steve Rogers' Super Soldier Serum, Thor and Loki's claims of godhood and Gamma-radiation altered Bruce Banner. Jiru Star offered a treasure trove of possibilities and dangerous scenarios.

The young woman herself truly didn't know the depth and scope of her diamond-based powers; and if she did, she wasn't sharing that information with Fury. The young woman would be very surprised to discover that Fury had a secret team of highly-educated bright-minded people working clock-round on analyzing and studying those powers. He had yet another team, professional psychologists, watching and charting the dimensional walker's personality and habits. The results were stunningly enlightening and left Fury with a feeling he could have easily guessed her personality. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Director was ever so close in getting to know the young woman's thoughts better than she herself might.

"Worst case scenario, Agent Coulson, would be the destruction of reality as we know it." Fury answered his agent. "But Miss Star isn't prone to that level of anger."

"She has surprised us before." Coulson leaned towards the woman's defense. "Although I would agree; she wouldn't destroy something she loves. She enjoys her time on this dimension."

Director Fury glanced at his agent and shook his head. "She is something interesting, isn't she?"

"Indeed." Phil nodded in response. "Just when we think we have her all figured out, she goes and does something like developing a huge crush on Doctor Banner."

"Ha." Fury chuckled. Both he and Coulson had come to understand the young woman as solidly random, a happy-go-lucky serious young individual with a bright, optimistic personality who liked to make people happy. Fury had been leery about putting her with Banner, but after witnessing her reaction to meeting him face to face, it was all too easy to manipulate her emotions to Fury's needs. "I am positive she knows we sent her there, with her diamond shard, to keep Banner calm."

"She is a sharp minded individual, Director Fury. Her easy-going attitude hides that." Coulson commented. "She would figure it out."

"My only problem with her, at this very moment, is that she is treating everything like a game." Fury scowled at the thought, and reached over to shut down the video. "I want to know how Loki knows her, Coulson."

"You want me to talk to her?" the sandy-haired agent looked serious. It had yet to be revealed to many others that Miss Star's apartment had been compromised by aggressive force – most like Loki and his search for the dimensional walker woman. Fury had stopped the young woman from returned to the place after Fury had talked to Steve Rogers, and had sent Coulson and a cache of agents to secure the place.

"If you could, that would be a great help Agent Coulson. We are running out of time to find that damned Tesseract and she knows something."

"Will do, Director." Coulson stated after a thoughtful second. The director looked oddly at his best agent and leaned back in his chair.

"Agent Coulson…" Fury called out as Phil stood up and turned towards the exit. "Straight up: do you have feelings for the young woman?"

"Yes, Director Fury, I do." Coulson smiled politely at the dark-skinned man. "How can I not enjoy her unique personality."

"She does grow on you, doesn't she?" Fury smiled back. "Just be careful not to get too attached to her – it will be that much harder to let her go when the time comes for her to leave."

XXXX

Jiru sat across from the very quiet Doctor Bruce Banner. It had taken her the better part of two hours two fully relay her story to the man who was the Hulk and frankly, it left her jittered and jaw-sore. It had been a twisty, complicated telling, interrupted by questions coming from Bruce's scientific mind, such as what/how much she knew about dimensional hops. Tangents were viral when she tried her best to explain every angle the Gamma-Radiated Scientist brought up.

Those two hours were fraught with mind-racing thoughts when she spilled it all to the scientist. It had been difficult to put words to her feelings and emotions, but having told everything she knew to Bruce, Jiru was felt feeling jilted and vulnerable.

"Doctor Banner?" her voice questioned tentatively.

Jiru's mind was whirling with concern and hesitancy, having finally told somebody in this dimension how things were back in her native existence – like how certain people HERE were comic book characters THERE. So now she sat, jittery and nervous as the scientist continued to stare blatantly at the purple-shirted man. That was another thing she had revealed to the Hulk's calmer persona: her powers. She had hesitantly showed him her powers by changing the very coloring of his shirt – from white to purple – which happened just this last minute. Now the scientist sat there, staring at her with a look of stunned wonder across his face.

"Doctor Banner, please tell me you don't hate me now." The young woman across from him looked decidedly vulnerable.

"Call me Bruce." He answered her, shifting his body as he dialed his brain back to the here and now.

"Bruce…" She lowered her eyes and sighed. "Say something…I.-please?…"

"Just…wow." He answered her. Bruce was completely and utterly enthralled with the young woman now. Her story was nothing he had ever thought possible. Banner's brain whirled with scientific calculations, more questions and theories; all centered on what she had told him: she was traveling alternate dimensions like a person changes clothes. Another thing that entrapped his mind were her powers. Having only seen presumably one – she had changed the color of his shirt from white to purple – Bruce was just itching to do his thing and discover what made her powers work – among other things.

"'Wow'? That's all you have to say?" She chided him, her face changing from vulnerable to annoyed.

"No, but you've left me with much to think about." Banner again shifted in his seat, now suddenly feeling uncomfortably aroused - again.

He had ample chance to study her in great detail while she talked his ear off – memorizing the sculpt of her face, the exact color of her eyes, the curves of her body, the way she sometimes motioned with her strong, small hands to emphasize certain things she said. If Bruce closed his eyes, he could vividly picture what she was wearing (an off-blue shirt, woven with cotton and imprinted with a fancy pattern, new clean jeans, and white socks with white & navy blue sports shoes, a single slash of sparkling motif running across the outer sides.) Banner could only imagine what her body would feel like if those clothes were to come off. Her mouth was full as were her lips, and Bruce had the hardest time keeping his eyes off them – he could only ache to kiss them.

"Uhm, Bruce…you're kind of staring…" Her voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"I'm sorry, what?" He blinked at her.

"I said: you are staring at me like…"

"I heard what you said." Bruce coughed gruffly, sliding out of his seat to move over to the behind-the counter computers. He blushed as he tried desperately to hide his arousal. Now that he was moving, his brain was working even faster. "So let me get this broiled down, Miss Star…"

"If you make me call you Bruce, you have to call me Jiru." She interrupted him as he stood behind the lab counter.

"Touché." He looked back up at her and nodded, smiling. "So, Jiru…you are an inter-dimensional planetary traveler, with the power of several stars packed away in a diamond…" Bruce motioned with his now-removed glasses towards the desk next to her; the white surface complimenting the tiny gemstone which it sat upon. The small grain of fiery diamond flickered in the lab's light and was stunningly beautiful. "And a few of those powers can alter reality?"

"Yes." She nodded regally. "But…"

"But something happened – shattering your diamond talisman into pieces and it caused a dimensional rift that sucked you up and spat you out into all of creation?"

"Yes." Jiru answered again.

"Now you're being pulled around by these diamond shards, looking for them to piece your fist-sized diamond back together again like Humpty-Dumpty."

"Ha, nice analogy, yes."

"But you're now stuck here, trying to play nice with Fury so you can earn your diamond shard back." Bruce continued to question her, his brain planning his next ten questions out already.

"Yes." Came her answer.

"Now this whole Tesseract issue is forcing you to stay here and be Fury's little puppet, keeping an eye on me so I don't turn into the Hu-…Other Guy."

"Well, yes…I didn't wa-"

"But you really can't do much since Fury holds your other diamond shards hostage against whatever it is he wants you to do…" Bruce pressed on, not giving Jiru the chance to retort.

"Right…but…"

"Furthermore, you know full well who I am and the Hu-Other Guy and what He is capable of?" Bruce continued onward.

"Yes."

"And you think I'm handsome?" Bruce tossed her a curveball.

"Yes."

"Ah." Bruce grinned at her straightforward answer and watched in secret delight as her face changed, blossoming a healthy pink as it blushed.

"WAIT, WHAT!?"

"Need I repeat the question?" Bruce chuckled at her flustered reaction. It was so very adorable.

"YOU JERK! You…you…not fair at all." The young woman sputtered as the pink deepened into red, her enchanting lagoon-green eyes flickering into his before dropping down to the hands clasped in her lap.

"Well, at least you're honest." Banner murmured; his own eyes stuck on her hands. They were thin and well-shaped enough to match her physique – would fit perfectly into his larger hands.

"You're staring at me again, Banner." Her voice cut through his fugue. "Am I right to assume that the feeling is mutual?"

"Ah…" Now it was Bruce's turn to blush as he tried vainly to clamp down on the heat rising up his neck. He reached up to run a hand on the back of his neck.

"I thought so." The young woman snarked back. "Didn't believe your own lie about me being flirty, did you?"

"…" Bruce flushed even darker and locked his eyes down on his hands; which were fiddling with his glasses.

"I am standing by my answer anyway: you are handsome and have a solid earthy strength."

"What?" Bruce was slightly surprised by her words and lifted his head up to look at her.

"Earthy strength…your aura or personal energy comes across as solid and strong."

"Th-thanks." Bruce stuttered, mulling over her unique words. "You yourself…are-are…" He stumbled over his words, trying to find something appropriate enough to describe he feelings for her. Whatever it was he was going to say was interrupted by somebody – Agent Coulson – walking into the lab.

"Hey, are you playing nice with each other?" Coulson's steady voice asked aloud.

"Oh, hey, P.C." Miss Star turned away from Banner's blushing form and slipped back into her carefree mode. "What's going on around here, it's been far too boring. Have those rabid geese pissed on Fury's mutilated body yet?"

"Hahahaha Miss Jiru, no ninja commando geese." The sandy-haired S.H.I.E.L.D. agent chuckled. "We have, however, found Loki."

Bruce watched closely as the jovial expressions on her face contort into negativity and guardedness. Loki, apparently, was not a fair subject to talk about.

"I see you take that news like you just ate a lemon, Miss Jiru." Coulson had noticed the same facial change on the woman as Bruce did, and inside, Banner bristled at the tone of familiarity Coulson used with her.

"Have you found…found Bar.-" Jiru's voice broke as her face twisted into angsty concern.

"Sorry, no, we have no yet found Agent Barton." Coulson answered her unasked question. "Any luck with your Gamma-radiation tracking algorithms Doctor Banner?"

"I should check on that, shouldn't I?" Banner asked himself and walked across the lab to the set-based computer screen to monitor the readings, clenching down his tinge of rising concern for the woman. "I admit I have been busy the past two hours."

"Doing what, Doctor Banner?" Coulson looked at him and Bruce thought he could see the oddest look in the agent's eyes; as if Coulson already knew and found it amusing.

"Oh, it's not Banner's fault he was slacking, P.C." Jiru's bright voice piped in. "I was being distracting and talked his ear off."

"Miss Jiru, need I remind you that Fury asked you not to bother Doctor Banner while he worked." Coulson's faux condescending voice irked Bruce again. The way S.H.I.E.L.D. treated this young woman…was appalling.

"She wasn't bothering me at all, Agent Coulson. I was merely asked about her and how she got into S.H.I.E.L.D." Banner jumped to Jiru's defense. "After all, she IS here to help me. I was just being politely curious."

"Well, ok." Coulson nodded his deference before turning back to the young woman. "If you have a moment, Miss Jiru, I'd like a word."

"Well, ok, P.C. If you insist."

XXXX

Following Coulson outside the lab, Jiru flinched at Coulson as something on his person began blasting AC/DC 'Back In Black'.

"What the what?" She glared at Phil. "Is that…my Starktech phone?"

"Yes it is." Coulson answered her. "Don't worry about it; Stark has been texting your phone for the past five hours."

"FIVE hours? Geez, what kind of stalker is he?"

"The genius billionaire playboy philanthropist kind." Coulson dead-panned his answer.

"Ha-Ha. Clever. So, Phil, what's up; why'd you wanna talk to me?"

"Director Fury wants to you talk to Loki when we bring him in." The Agent's face turned serious. "He thinks Loki might tell you things he might not tell anyone else."

"What the hell?!" Jiru scowled furiously. "That's really weak logic."

"It isn't. This may or may not come as a surprise to you, but Loki knows who you are."

"Duh, he brainwashed Birdie…Barton probably told Loki all about me and the others on Fury's 'Avengers' Team."

"Loki knew about you before that; before Agent Barton was compromised." Coulson informed the young woman rather suddenly. "He called you by name." Jiru instantly looked guilty and tore her eyes away from Coulson's searching gaze. If Coulson said Loki called her by name before Loki escaped with the Tesseract; then it was truth: Jiru trusted Phil too much for him to lie to her like that; hoping the lie would make her reveal information.

"Miss Jiru; it would help S.H.I.E.L.D. out greatly if you told us what you know." A hand was placed on her shoulder, comforting and nonjudgmental. "I know what you may think but you aren't in trouble. We…I would like to know how Loki knows you; so that we may keep you safer."

"Oh, o-fine…" She pouted, sighing with resign, then looked around at the trafficked metallic Helicarrier hallway before turning back to Coulson's face. "Is there somewhere…"

"Private to talk, yes." Coulson motioned down the hallway.

"Let me tell Doctor Banner I'll B.R.B." The dimensional walker gave a weak, half-smile and ducked into the lab again.


	15. Loki

_Chapter 14: Loki_

"DAMN YOU, FURY!" Jiru shot to her feet and slammed her hands onto the metal table, her anger absolutely livid through her veins.

It had been sixty minutes – a soul-wrenching hour – since Jiru decided to follow Coulson to 'talk' in a private room. Her friend tricked her into following him to the same room – the same crazy office/interrogation room from before – to listen to what she had to say on Loki. Director Fury was already in the room, and with Coulson close behind her, Jiru found no escape option available. So the woman resigned herself to suffer the black man's presence. Her confession started out rocky – most likely her guilty conscience and wild imagination about what Fury might now do to her plaguing her – but ended up revealing that she did indeed know Loki. Explaining about her rather erratic dreams – which had Loki in them – she pled, begged, threatened her innocence. Director Fury hadn't extended much of his threatening spy tactics; he left the guilt-tripping to Jiru's own wild imagination.

"YOU KNEW that Loki knew who I was and didn't deem it even remotely decently a chance that you would lock me up?" Her anger – half directed at the director, half at herself – was great enough to mess with her thought process, making her words wacky.

"I wanted to hear your side of the story, Miss Star." The dark, scowling face of Nick Fury remained calm and serious. "But now that I HAVE heard your side, I am thinking that locking you up might be a growing possibility."

"But I don't have anything to DO with THIS Loki. He's different, crazier."

"Is that so?" Fury sighed, running a hand over his bald head. "And you would know because you've literally slept with the enemy."

"How the hell was I suppose to know I'd land in the same damn dimension as before. Nothing has following me like this to make THIS kind of trouble." She collapsed back into the chair, quailing under Fury's bone-crunching gaze. "I didn't know he'd follow me."

"Well you are in this situation now, Miss Star, what do you plan to do about it?"

"I don't…I don't know." She answered miserably; tears of frustration welling up in her eyes.

"How about using your powers to set things right and locate the damned Tesseract." Fury shot back. Agent Coulson, who was sitting off to the side, had been quiet the whole time, taking notes and recording her words.

"Director Fury, might I suggest sticking with the original plan." The sandy-handed agent now came to the dimensional walker's rescue.

"Oh great, fecking original and super secret plans and stupid you Fury." She muttered.

"Agent Coulson…" Fury growled back at the carefree woman. "What Agent Coulson was suggesting…"

"Oh stop pulling poor innocent P.C. into this feck-cluster, Fury. JUST TELL ME what I have to do to prove I'm innocent!"

"Talk to Loki, try to see if he tells you what he's planning. If I'm thinking on how bad he wants you, he is more likely to tell you things differently."

"I can't match wits with a God of Lies. He'd twist my words and lead the whole conversation." She looked darkly at the two men. "I give up." Sighing in resignation, she scooted her chair back enough to allow herself to lean forward and began banging her forehead against the metal table. "I'm sorry, but THIS Loki has BLUE eyes and the Loki I knew has GREEN eyes."

"Are you suggesting he's under the same influence that he used to brainwash Selvig and Barton?" Fury leaned forward, glaring at her – the director was clever enough to follow Jiru's train of thought, and connect the blue eyes comment to the Tesseract staff Loki carried with him.

"Yes…" She just growled and continued banging her head. Coulson coughed once, leaning forward to expertly slide a thick-with-paper manila folder to cushion her forehead.

"Miss Jiru, this is part of helping S.H.I.E.L.D. out." Coulson murmured lowly. "I know this is difficult; but I promise we'll help you out if you tell us what you know about Loki."

"Arrrghhh." She sat back up, tossing her hands in aggravation and glared at Coulson. "So what? I tell what I know and you'll lock me up, is that it?"

"Miss Star." Fury cut in. "I understand how you might think me a bastard, but I have been monitoring you very closely ever since Loki stole the Tesseract."

"Oh swell." Jiru hated this; getting mired down into Fury's shifty S.H.I.E.L.D. spy politics. "I feel SO much better knowing 'Big Brother' is watching me blow my nose…"

"Miss Star…" Fury sighed once more. "I have never been one for leaving things out of my control…"

"Which is WHY you've been leading me on? Expecting me to escape and flee to Loki's side?"

"Look kid, I am telling you RIGHT now: you are not going to be locked up for your previous dimension's dealings. I barely understand how you managed to survive Loki's crazy." His black-skinned hand came up, making a cutting motion; telling her to stay silent. "But this is here and now: we need your help with Loki. If he says ANY-thing to you, it just might be something we can use."

"Tch." She grunted with annoyance. "What if he talks about anything BUT the Tesseract? How is that useful?"

"Don't know, but we'll use it."

"Swell, just flipping fantastic swell."

The trio sat there, in the pseudo-office interrogation room, feeling the tremulous tension on their skin. Jiru had just about enough; sitting there under Fury's scalding scrutiny.

"Fine, I'll TALK to Loki; but I can't make any promises that he'll tell me anything."

"Great, Miss Star. You do that and I'll forget this talk about your dreams ever happened." Fury smiled coldly at her. "I know you have nothing to do with Loki's war; a personality like yours would have been very difficult to hide something like that – there would have been clear evidence along the way. I've seen none."

"Swell." She pouted. "Fury thinks he knows me…pfffft."

"I am right, Miss Star?"

"Yes, you're right. I would have messed up and told you had I known Loki was declaring war on your planet."

"Good." The director nodded and stood up. "As long as you're willing to talk to Loki, then everything is set."

"I hate you." Miss Star stood up, glared ferociously at Fury and stomped out of the room.

"Well…that went better than I expected." Coulson said to his boss. "Although, she must hate us now."

"That's the least of my concerns, Agent Coulson." Fury answered evenly.

XXX

Bruce watched through the glass panel walls as Miss Star stormed down the hallway where she had disappeared down thirty minutes prior, scowling something fierce. He felt himself – the Other Guy – bristle at her scowl; wanting to smash whatever it was that made her angry. Closing his eyes; Bruce clamped down strongly on his emotions; forcing himself NOT to succumb to the anger. His orbs were still closed when she entered the room, he listened intently as her heavy stomping footsteps impacted the Helicarrier floor.

"Neh? Did you fall asleep, Banner? Wake up." Her edgy tone of voice brought a smirk to his lips; Banner was VERY in tune with what and how people sounded when they were angry.

"No, I was just enjoying your rather pouty entrance." He opened his eyes to look at her. Her scowl was very adorable – how wrong was that.

"Pouty!? What the hell is your malfunction, Banner. Stop trying to make me smile."

"Why, you look better when you smile." He tilted his head at her.

"Pervert."

"You would know?" Bruce felt the smile tug at his lips; effectively squashing his brief flare of wild emotion. The young woman stood there scowling at HIM now.

"Ugh, you're supposed to be working on finding the stupid Tesseract, not feeling comfortable in a hellhole like this." She gestured to the lab; and meant the whole of the Helicarrier. "What are you smiling at, Banner?"

"Oh, nothing." He answered, watching as she stalked over to the corner adjacent his position and plunked onto a chair. The Other Guy chuckled at her rather cutely adorable anger fest. "I wasn't sure when you'd be back, so I took the opportunity to visit the café."

Now that Banner had some of her attention – the part that wasn't focused on stewing in her anger fest – he motioned towards the white styrofoam box. It sat on the middle table of the lab; white on white.

"Oh?" Her scowl was still set on her lips. "Are you trying to force-feed me now, Doctor Banner."

"Ah…" Bruce felt his neck heat up again. "No, I was…just…trying to be nice."

"Well, thanks." She growled out.

Bruce smiled again to himself, thinking how much he was smiling since she had come into the lab. It was almost too much stimulation.

"What the hell are you building there? A contraption to catch geese in?" What was it with her and geese? Banner didn't understand her logic; he wasn't sure he wanted to.

He watched her as she motioned at the red-metal wire frame he was currently ensconced behind. It was something he had dived into; part of the machine - the machine was indeed a rather clunky Gamma-Radiation sensor that was in the Helicarrier lab already – was ribbed in thin red strips of steel. The hourglass-shaped gizmo was three feet long and set on a mobile wheeled trolley. The innards of the thing were inside the steel cage, and that was where Bruce was focused most on: calibrating the radiation sensors to Gamma-Radiation.

"Oh my god! Banner, I love you!" Her bright, excited voice cut into the temporary silence.

"What!?" Banner shot up; nearly braining himself on the wheeled trolley. Her words totally came out of nowhere.

"SHRIMP and pasta! Lots of SHRIMP! Oh my gosh!" Miss Star had managed to get out of her seat and open the food box Banner had left her from the Helicarrier café. "How'd you know I LOVE shrimp."

"Well-, um." Her words left Banner very flustered; his mental synapses stuck on replay. However something else caught his attention – something else outside the stuffy metallic lab.

A group of six or so soldiers were trooping down the hallway, suddenly appearing from behind the curve of the hallway. That in itself made Banner nervous – he highly disliked such large groups of gun-toting people. But that wasn't what drew his attention. It was the tall, dark-haired being escorted in the middle of the soldiers' tight group. The man was thin, yet muscular enough to throw red warning flags in the dangerous department. The man's apparel was highly different enough to give indication that he wasn't from around here. A long dark cape trailed behind the rather flowing green, brown and black leather uniform framing the body. It looked like the man had been arrested right out from an Elvish Cosplay event. Leather armaments covered his arms and legs; the male's hands were cuffed and restrained. It was Loki; had to be.

"Bruce? I didn't mean to short-circuit your brain there…Banner?" Jiru's voice barely edged its way into his ears. "Oh sh*t."

NOW her voice drew back Banners attention. Jiru had turned around, when he didn't answer her, and saw the same thing he saw: the prisoner being escorted past the lab. Bruce again had to inhale and exhale deeply, keeping the Other Guy firmly encaged. The look of haunted pain that flitted across her face arrowed deep into Banner's heart. He wanted to go kill the smirking man right then and there just because of her pained look.

"Somebody you know?" Bruce kicked himself mentally – so stupid, such a stupid thing to say.

XXX

Jiru had managed to throw poor Banner into a tizzy, talking about 'love'. It was amusing to see how clumsily the dual-persona-ed man reacted to her words – the little scene almost brought her out of her lingering bad mood: damn Fury and his twisted S.H.I.E.L.D. games. Having been drawn over to Banner's peace offering; her delight was strong when she saw the pasta and shrimp. (How she LOVED eating seafood; shrimp was, in her book, the basic persona of sea food – crab, lobster, clams, muscle, calamari and ocean fish were all the next chapter; and a step up.)

However, upon finding Banner staring behind her, a look of mild confusion and distaste written plainly on his profile; she made the mistake of satiating her curiosity and turned to see what was up.

Loki.

The damned Trickster Jotun/Asgardian God of Lies was marching calmly down the very hallway she had used mere minutes before. Of course it wasn't worth mentioning the back-stabbing god was hand-cuffed and surrounded by gun-wielding S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers, but Loki was there regardless. If Fury had kept her five minutes more; then she would have been returning just now; running right into the villain.

"Well, sh*t." Her good mood killed, she shivered in a disgusted delight as her eyes followed the group's progress across the short stretch past the lab; feeling Loki's blue eyes drill straight into her bones. Her nerves flared with liquid heat; arousal nestling deep in her gut – all because Loki's profile was smirking and strong – looking past the incredibly weak barrier of metal and glass.

"Somebody you know?" Bruce lamely asked. Jiru turned around and scowled at him.

"No comment." She hissed out after the soldiers and the prisoner had moved out of sight. "F*ck this sh*t…I'm going to the bridge."

Bruce watched as she turned on heel – towards him – and with fists clenched by her sides (something he labeled as uncharacteristic of the young woman) stomped to the lab's opposite exit and turned right to head towards the bridge.

Bringing his hand to remove his glasses from his face, Banner pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Things weren't going as expected – the young woman provided way too much emotional spikes for his likes – from arousal, to amusement, to anger for her. Sighing to himself, Bruce looked over to the untouched opened food box and then reached into his pocket; removing the tiny metallic container holding the rice-sized diamond. He meant to run tests on the thing, yet hadn't gotten to it yet. Sighing once more; he turned to follow Miss Star to the bridge. Things from here on out would only get more intense; testing him to his limits.


	16. Science!

_Chapter 15: Science!_

Stomping onto the bridge; half-knowing Bruce was shuffling along somewhere behind her; Jiru scowled at the various S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel who shot looks at her. Her want of being there was completely negative and wished she was still flirting with Banner back in the lab, but had a strong feeling Fury wanted both her and Banner on the bridge to see what was what with Loki in custody. Coming out of the hallway and onto bridge, she stopped short upon viewing all who were assembled at the round S.H.I.E.L.D. table.

Agent Romanov was sitting on the right side – the far side of where Jiru had entered – and was leaning over the table, staring at nothing. The assassin woman looked deep in thought. Captain Steve Rogers was to the woman's left, and closer to the left side of the bridge. The solider had visibly changed clothes from the last time Jiru saw him. Upon seeing his new uniform, she felt her smile twitch: Captain America was decked out in a dark-blue uniform, the white star sitting on his chest and red and white stripes across his abdomen. His famous star-centered S.H.I.E.L.D. leaned against the chair's side closest to her.

Her lagoon-green eyes then turned to a third person; who was standing with his back to the curved front windows of the Helicarrier; one thick muscled arm giving a resting platform for the other – which was gently holding his blonde-bearded chin. The dark night sky silhouetted the god from behind.

It was Thor.

The blonde-chiseled god of hunkiness was ripped, and Jiru almost caught herself admiring him. But blinking twice, she reigned in as Steve turned to her; his voice stopping her stare-fest study of Thor. The god didn't quite look at bulky as she thought he'd be, but sturdy and insanely muscled anyway. His apparel was colored in darks (grays, blues and metallic silvers) and a dull red in some places. He looked completely different without his metallic sleeves on.

"Miss Star, how are you this evening?" Steve's voice was polite and inquiring. Turning to the man, she smiled politely back and exhaled through her nose.

"I would say peachy-keen, but I'd most likely be lying to you 90%." Captain America gave her a very odd look; like she had spoken in ancient Latin.

"Oh, okay." He said slowly. "Had a bad day?"

"Yea, kinda…" She sighed, taking a seat next to the Captain. "You look haggard; long day?"

"Yes." His answer was short and clipped. Before anyone else could speak, display screens around the bridge lit up showing Fury talking with Loki. She focused her vision on the inset screen before the chair she sat in and watched the scene unfold, feeling the scowl on her face grow.

XXX

Down below the bridge, the soldiers had finally managed to maneuver the dastardly God of Lies into the huge glass cage, removing the manacles holding his arms together. The god stepped casually into the rounded room and didn't try to bolt when the door slide shut with a short hiss of hydraulics. Loki slowly made a visual circuit of the cell before turning back to the now-sealed entrance/exit of the cell.

The blue-eyed god needed no further time to take in just where he was in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. His senses told him he was close to the heart of the invisible flying behemoth; the room he was in was rounded, like it had been made around the very thing the soldiers had inserted him in: the strong glass-wall cage. The metal walkways made a complete ring around the cage, single chairs set in intervals. Half the catwalks were lower than the other half, by a series of three steps. Loki didn't care though, the adjacent glass partitioned computer rooms weren't at all important to the god.

What was slightly important was the dark-skinned man who had just entered through Loki's centre vision, through a door the god was currently facing full on.

"Welcome to hell, Loki." Director Nick Fury spat out.

"Indeed." The dark-haired god inclined his head once, and allowing his eyes to follow the man as Fury stepped three long strides to a podium with technology plastered over the top. Loki hadn't been on Earth for but four days, but knew how and what technology was.

"In case it isn't clear…" Fury addressed Loki from the button-filled podium. "If you try to escape, if you even scratch that glass…" His dark skinned hand paused to flip a switch which opened the round-eye hatch under the cell. The wind howled through the breach in the room; giving alert to just how high they were in the sky. "It's thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap."

Loki meandered over to the curved edge of the cage, gazing idly through the thick glass to view the imminent danger of the now unrestricted drop straight down into the afternoon sky. Smiling to whomever cared, the rogue god oozed back into the middle of the cage, returning his gaze to Fury.

"Got it? Ant…" The one-eyed man motioned at Loki. "Boot." Fury pointed to the release cage button, before closing the hatch and stepping closer to the cage.

"It's an impressive cage." Loki retorted; a lazy smile still on his lips. "But, I think, built not for me…"

"It was built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard." Loki mused, turning to the camera. The black casing did nothing to hide the fact that it was indeed such an eye. "The monster that makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, to call on such lost creatures to defend you?" The god spoke to the both the camera and Fury.

"You threaten my world with a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace, but kill because it's fun." Fury growled out. "You've made very desperate. You may not be glad that you did."

"It burns you, doesn't it?" Loki inquired; locking eyes with Fury once more. "To come so close of unlocking the Tesseract's unlimited power, and for what? 'A warm light for mankind to share' and then be reminded what real power is." The tension between the prisoner and the jailer crackled.

"Well, call me if 'real power' wants a magazine or something." Fury smirked, breaking off first before walking out. Loki chuckled to himself before turning to the ceiling mounted round-black hub that was the camera.

XXX

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce remarked to everyone once the spy-vid blanked out.

"Tch." Jiru was completely hypnotized by the whole interview, staring at the below table screen; studying Loki with zoned out eyes. It had taken all but two minutes; and she had spaced out. The God of Lies had that affect on her. Looking up from the now blank table, she found Thor glancing her way; his face taking on a rather perplexed look.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Captain America asked, his eyes turning to the contemplative Thunder God across the table.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." The word Chitauri made her flinch, thinking back to the horrendous visage of the alien in her dream/nightmare. Thor caught her reaction – he knew she knew something because she was the only one to react to the words.

"An army, from outer space?" Steve looked a little surprised. Jiru sighed to herself, thinking how even aliens would be different for the man.

"Yes, Steve; aliens." Jiru sighed lowly. It had been too long a day for her, and now that her brain processed it was 'night' out, she wanted to go curl up in the sad excuse for a bunk and sleep.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce spoke up from behind her.

"Selvig?" Thor asked, surprised; the god snapping out of his reverie.

"He's an astrophysicist." Banner responded.

"He's a friend."

"Loki put him under some kind of spell." The Black Widow finally spoke up. "Along one of ours…" A set of razor-sharp eyes flickered towards the dimensional walker.

"I still want to know why Loki let us take him in." Steve Rogers questioned. "He's not leading any army from here."

"We shouldn't focus on Loki. His mind is like a bag of cats-…you can smell the crazy on him." Banner was now right next to her, setting his glasses on the table. Jiru glanced upward and gave the scientist a smile; showing she found his words slightly funny.

"Take care how you speak!" Thor warned the scientist. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, he is my brother."

"He's killed eighty people in two days." Romanov remarked.

"He's adopted…"

"But I think we should focus on the Iridium. Why does he need it?" Banner continued to motion while he spoke aloud. Jiru realized she hadn't said a single decent thing in five minutes; which was fine by her. The whole conversation was over her head. Iridium?

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony Stark answered, his voice cutting into the conversation. "It's needed so the portal won't collapse on itself like it did in New Mexico."

Upon hearing that voice of none other than Iron Man, Jiru subconsciously shot up out of her seat and turned towards the source. Her lagoon green eyes took in the sight of a dark business-suited Tony Stark traipsing out of the metal hallway and talking in low tones to Agent Coulson. Poor Phil was only guiding Tony towards the table, but the billionaire had other actions in mind. Stark's eyes drilled into her for a second before turning back to Phil.

"…don't worry- I'll fly…two in a private jet- to Florida and-…-" Was all Jiru heard because Tony had turned his back to the bridge and faced only Coulson. What on earth was he talking about? Jiru knew Tony was oft erratic because his brain processed conversation at a faster rate than the rest of them, but she couldn't make any connections between private jets, Florida and Coulson. Also; why didn't Tony acknowledge her?

"Now that he has Iridium, Loki can make the portal as large as he wants and keep it open for as long as he wants. Perfect for getting an alien army to earth." Stark continued as he spun back around to face the rest of them. Shooting a glance towards her, Banner and Steve, Tony strode past Thor while commenting:

"No offense, Point Break, but you have a nice swing." He tapped the god's rather muscular upper arm. The genius continued to walk on, coming to a stop in front of the two main computers which Fury normally used.

"Raise the mizX.I. . Jib the topsails. That person is playing _Galaga_. Thought we wouldn't notice but we did." The suited man pointed to some hapless S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel and most of them looked to the poor sap. Jiru rolled her eyes.

"How does Fury even see these?" Tony asked putting a hand over his eye, distracting everybody, so they didn't notice when he planted a device to hack the S.H.I.E.L.D. computer system. Jiru, however, narrowed her eyes as the dark-haired man once again stared at her; a smirk on his lips. Stark knew she was sharp-eyed and was the only one who caught the tiny spy act. He also smiled because he had made her smile.

"He turns." A strong female voice answered. The woman obviously looked annoyed at Tony. Most of the bridge looked annoyed at Tony being there to be honest, Jiru noted.

"Sounds exhausting, Agent Hill. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to kick-start the Cube." Stark remarked; while snapping and lightly hitting his other palm with a fist.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" The woman, Hill, asked. Now that the stern-looking woman had stepped up next to Stark; Jiru could finally put a face to the name. The woman; tall and sharply built, had an annoyed look on her face when confronting Stark and his randomness.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers – am I the only one who did the reading?" The Man of Iron spread his hands in query.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

"He'd have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner pointed out; not mentioning anything about her diamond.

"I'm sure that Selvig figured out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling effect, though." Stark answered the other scientist.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce didn't look pleased at they couldn't narrow down Selvig's whereabouts.

"Finally! Someone who speaks English." Tony walked over to Bruce; his hand out and ready to shake Banner's hand.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked looking at Jiru. She shrugged in reply, turning her head to look at Tony and Bruce. Tony seemed to be about an inch taller than Bruce; and poor Bruce quailed slightly.

"It's good to finally meet you, Doctor Banner." Tony shook Bruce's hand; looking thrilled. "Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And…I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"...Thanks."

"Ignore him, Bruce, Tony's just being himself: a jerk." Jiru advised Bruce before Tony turned fully towards her.

"Good god, IT is you, Superstar." Stark's eyes went wide as his hands motioned his faux surprise. "I wasn't completely sure, but your hair threw me."

"What?"

"Your hair; its brown." Stark stepped up into her personal space and reached up to touch it.

"Tch, yea. I'm so glad you aren't color blind." Jiru snarked back and moved her head away from Stark's roving hands.

"Oh, come now; don't tell me you're upset because I haven't kissed you yet." Stark flashed his secret weapon at her; his smile. Rolling her eyes, the dimensional walker couldn't help but smile. "Which, by the way: where have you been the last week? Did you break up with me? I've been calling you like crazy…"

"Stark, Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury's strong voice made her jump; she hadn't seen him step onto the bridge. "Miss Star has been kind enough to assist him."

"Oho? Miss Star?" Tony once again looked square at her. "Assisting Banner with what…?"

"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve suggested; interrupting whatever Tony was hinting at. Jiru had to stifle her laugh due to her thought process; forcing her mind out of the gutter as it connected Stark's comment with the first part of Steve's. 'Stick' was a loaded word; and paired with Assisting Banner – it was very loaded.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. And I like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury said, glaring at Jiru as she now frowned; once again thinking of Barton and now Selvig.

"Monkeys? I do not understand-" Thor slowly said.

"I do! I- I understood that reference." Steve cut off Thor, eager to show that he wasn't completely out of the loop. Jiru glanced at Stark just as the billionaire rolled his eyes in annoyance. She chuckled softly.

"Forget it, Thor; now's not the time to go into that." Fury stepped down from the hallway and moved towards his main spot; the circular podium which Tony had just been at minutes before.

"I'd prefer you to get to work in finding the Cube, gentlemen." Fury motioned to Banner and Stark. Having gotten the hint, Tony nodded and held out his arm to show Banner to proceed first to the science lab.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asked Bruce he and Banner started to make their way to the lab.

Jiru stood there, and watched Tony and Bruce walk off the bridge without her; not knowing what to do next. Thor was staring blatantly at her as if she was weirdest thing he ever saw – Black Widow wasn't meeting her eyes, Steve was leaning forward with elbows on the table, looking deep in thought. Fury had his back to her; his single-eye gaze turned outward to the dark night sky showing through main windows on the bridge while Coulson was shooting gazes her way as he moved to and about the lower half of the bridge.

"Ah, yes, Superstar, come on now." Tony's voice reached her ears; making her turn towards the hallway. "I knew I forgot something."

"Ha-HA!" Jiru actually laughed once as Tony turned on heel and stepped back into the bridge towards her. The billionaire wrapped an arm around her waist and smiled, leading her to join him and Banner.

"Let's go do science, Supernova!"


	17. Blueberries

_Chapter 16: Blueberries_

"So, Superstar, whatcha been up too, besides sleeping with people?" Tony's casual voice asked as she, he, and Banner stepped back into the white science lab she had spent the day in.

"Say what!?" She stepped out from under Stark's draping arm and scowled at the genius. "I haven't slept with anyone, Anthony Stark."

"Could have fooled me, Sparkles." Tony smiled slyly at her. She shot a glance at Banner and smirked at how he was just standing there, fiddling with his glasses; something she knew meant he was nervous…or embarrassed.

"Don't mind Tony, he's just a prick." She spoke to Bruce.

"Oh my god!" Tony stepped in front of her, looked her full in the face, then twisted around; following her gaze to Banner. "You totally have the hots for him, don't you! You want to sleep with Banner."

"ANTHONY EDWARD STARK!" Jiru squawked at Tony. The billionaire smiled brightly and laughed; turning his attention to Banner.

"She's so cute when she's embarrassed, isn't she?"

"Ah, I have no comment." Banner had been watching her and had seen her reaction. He was trying to force a smile into nonexistence, but both she and Tony saw it.

"I'm wounded, Superstar, so wounded." Tony mock-staggered and placed a hand over his Arc Reactor. "I've been second-rated; I should've known you'd enjoy fantasizing about another scientist. What, with your little feathered boy-toy gone to the dark side."

"Banner, could you – by any chance – turn into the Hulk and smash Tony around – get him to shut up?" Jiru growled out and face-planted into her hands. It was way too late to deal with the billionaire's shenanigans.

"I wouldn't think that a wise thing to do, Miss Star." Banner stated simply; as his walked around the lab.

"Of course it wouldn't; Superstar has a bit of a kinky fetish; she'd so want to get that huge raging green machine in the sack."

"TONY, SHUT THE HELL UP!" Her face was most likely red as a cherry. She stomped over to her seat from before and plomped down; continuing to hide her face. She listened as Tony clapped his hands and chuckled to himself.

"Right then, what do we have to work with here?" The genius switched gears and sounded serious; which led her to make the mistake of looking up. Tony was removing his crisp black-blue suit while standing over several boxes labeled with 'Stark Industries.'

"What the heck are you doing now?" She opened her mouth as Tony started unbuttoning his pale blue pressed shirt.

"Why-ever do you need to ask, Superstar? What does it look like I'm doing?" Tony answered her plainly as he opened a box with clothes in it. "I am more comfortable in my work clothes."

Indeed, the stripping billionaire was stripping out of his sharp suit into more relaxed apparel, namely his Black Sabbath shirt – long-sleeved.

"Oy, just tell me when you're decent." She hissed out; it was WAY too late to deal with Tony's shit.

"Why, don't you wanna see me at my best?" The Man of Iron waggled his brows at her; smiling.

"JUST GET CHANGED!" She face-planted again, refusing to fall bait to Tony's hi-jinks – as difficult as that was to do when he flashed her with his smiles.

"Yes, mom." Tony answered her; most likely rolling his eyes.

It was blessedly quiet for the next several minutes; no teasing from Tony. Jiru listened as boxes and equipment were moved about; unloaded and set onto desks as Stark unloaded his personal gear to his liking. The lulling sound of the two men working was soothing, and she slowly lifted her gaze to see just why it was so peaceful.

"Hay, Superstar, excuse me." Tony was suddenly right next to her and she flinched. He was trying to place a mini computer on the counter she was resting on.

"Geez, Tony, don't sneak up on me."

"You know you love it." He answered. "OR were you about to fall asleep to dream about-…"

"Stark, I need some help over here." Banner strategically interrupted. The dimensional walker looked across the room to find him sitting behind the counter closest to the wall of windows. Banner's green eyes looked squarely at her and Tony. She looked back at him; but found her gaze torn slightly downward.

Loki's staff of doom.

The long scepter sat on two upright stands on the counter in front of Bruce, and the small blue orb inset at the spiked end of it instantly mesmerized her. The golden hue of the stick also drew her in further; actually making her stand up and step towards it: Jiru was a Magpie; drawn irresistibly towards things that sparkled, shined, glowed and glittered.

"Ah-ah, Superstar, Agent Coulson gave me orders NOT to let you anywhere NEAR Loki's staff." Tony's arm caught her around the waist; ceasing her forward movement. "I don't blame him. That thing is nasty."

"Ooohhhkay." She blinked away the trance and looked back up at Bruce, who was looking at her with slight concern. His hand was paused mid-way over the staff, holding a scanning device. The way she processed his gaze sent shivers of delight down her spine. It didn't help at all that Tony had his arm around her – she chided her muzzy brain for taking a dive straight into the gutter.

"Are you ok, Miss- Jiru?" Banner caught her eye and asked.

"Yes, I am, just tired…geez what time is it anyway?" She yawned, trying to cover her shiver.

"Midnight." Tony threw out; taking his arm off her.

"Really!?"

"No, it's only ten-thirty." Banner corrected Stark. Jiru rolled her eyes and went back to sitting in the chair she was just in. With her eyes finding the white box of food again, she turned her attention towards that; ignoring Stark's busyness at outfitting the lab to his specifications – namely booting up his own equipment. Picking at it with half-vigor; she ate her rather late meal, doing her best to keep Stark's snatching fingers out of her food.

"Interesting, Loki's staff is emitting low levels of Gamma radiation, just like in Selvig's notes." Banner's voice broke the peaceful silence after a while. "But it's going to take weeks to process everything."

"If we bypass their mainframe." Stark answered Banner in turn, fiddling on his own Stark Industries custom terminal "-and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops."

"Tch, stop trying to be fancy with all your gizmos, Stark."

"I just so happened to plan ahead and pack said gizmos." Tony glanced at her as his fingers tapped over a Stark-Tech holo-screen. "You are just jealous you don't have all my toys."

"Well, EXCUUUUSE me, I just recently got back the stuff I packed from S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Oh, wow. I only packed a toothbrush." Banner replied, looking up from his scanning readings and smiled at their bickering.

"You should totally come crash at Stark Tower. You'd love it, it's a candy land." Stark changed the subject. "The top ten floors are all R&D and have the latest tech. Right Supernova?"

"Uh, I guess, yes. It's a fun place." She watched as Tony meandered around the counter to stand beside Banner. "It smells brand new and has holograms – which I find rather cool in this dimension."

"Thanks, but last time I was in New York I kind…of broke Harlem." Banner's tone of voice changed as he continued to scan and read the scan-results on the computer screen next to the staff.

"Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension, no surprises." Stark idly mentioned before he poked Bruce in the side with a mental instrument. Jiru swore she heard the electrical zap of the stick.

"Ow!" Banner cried out.

"Tony!" Jiru chided Stark as he intently got in Banner's face. "Don't zap Bruce."

"Hey!" Steve's angry voice shot into the lab. "Are you nuts?" The trio turned to face the blue-suited soldier.

"Jury's out." Tony answered Steve's rhetorical question before turning back to study Bruce's face. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" Jiru let out a snorting laugh and all three of them turned towards her.

"I-I was just picturing Bruce playing the bongo drums…with weed." She chuckled again. "Sorry."

"Is everything a joke for you?" Steve Rogers asks, outraged.

"Funny things are." Stark responds, dryly. "Which is why Supernova over there is laughing."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny...no offense, Doc." Steve scowled at Stark.

"No, uh, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Banner replied; shooting a glance at her.

"But can you handle Stark?" Jiru joked while returning Bruce's glance with her smiling green eyes. "I'm sure that he would make an England Royal Guard lose it within five minutes. It's what, ten minutes in here, and he's already made me mad."

Banner smiled at her, glad that she had some confidence in him and his ability to keep 'The Other Guy' under control.

"You're tip-toeing." Stark pointed at Banner with the zap-stick. "You need to strut, big guy. Hey! I was in England once." Tony responded to Jiru's remark. "It only took three minutes to make those suckers crack." Stark then poked her in the side with the same metal instrument that he had used on Bruce. She definitely heard a zap then; and felt it too.

"Ow! Hey, you idiot!" She yelped, and nearly let her hand fly across Tony's face. "That hurt."

"And you need to focus, Stark." Steve Rogers retorted, deftly removing the zap-stick from Stark's hand.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now, why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables." Tony motioned in the air; suddenly having a silvery bag of food in his hands instead of the zappy-stick.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Captain looked confused.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's _THEE_ spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bothering them, too." Tony gestured to his two other lab rats; and popped a little blueberry into his mouth.

"Aah, I just want to finish my work here and…" Banner tried to deflect the attention set on him.

"Doctor?" Steve asked, looking towards the scientist. "Miss Star?"

"'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury. It was meant for Stark." Banner began to verbally process his thoughts. "It's kind of weird that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't bring Stark in on the Tesseract, you know since he's basically the only name in clean energy right now. Fury told us they're using the Cube to study free energy. But Tony Stark already made plenty of progress in that field with the Stark Tower…"

"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly…" Steve Rogers laughed, and swallowed it as Stark glared at him. "…building in New York?"

"Tony's onto something, Captain." She mentioned, yawning. "I was hired by Stark Industries, but Fury picked me and not Tony, to work with the Cube. Tony's a lot smarter than I am with that kind of stuff."

"Why didn't they bring Stark in to work on the Tesseract from the start?" Banner continues. "Why are they even involved with an energy project?"

"Thank you, Superstar." Tony chimed in. "I should probably look into that as soon as my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files." Tony commented; stepping away from the huddled group and moving towards a suspended computer screen. Having one hand holding the open silvery blueberry bag, Stark reached back and removed a thin disc-phone from his back jean pocket.

"I'm sorry did you say-?" Steve blinked.

"Stark has been running a computer program to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database ever since he was on board." Jiru interjected. "Oh, don't think I forgot your smooth little spy move there, Stark. I admit that was really clever."

"She's one sharp cookie, isn't she, Banner?" Tony once again knifed her heart with a bright smile. "You'd better stay alert around her."

"You let him do that?" Steve asked spinning towards her, looking astounded.

"He'd find another way to do it if I tried to stop him. Besides, aren't you curious just why Fury is so frantic to find the Cube?"

"What?" Steve Rogers turned towards Stark, glaring. "You were surprised that they didn't want you aboard, Stark this is most likely the reason."

"An Intelligence agency that fears intelligence?" Stark responded. "Historically; not awesome."

"Look, Loki is trying to wind us." The Captain continued to rant. "This is a man who wants a war, and if we don't focus he will succeed. We have orders and we should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." Tony remarked, jumping to her defense.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve said, almost sneering at Tony.

"Out of the people in this room, which one is A) wearing a Spangley outfit and B) not of use?" Tony shot back at Steve.

"Stark, be nice…" Jiru frowned at Tony. Steve hadn't deserved to be the target of Tony's snarky remarks.

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Bruce spoke up.

"Just find the Cube." Steve said looking pissed off. "I'll see you later, Miss Star." he added, his anger softening when he turned to give her a slight nod before exiting the lab.

"Seriously. Tony. You might want to be a little nicer to him. He's on _your _side." Jiru advised Tony once Steve had left.

"Supernova, you know I don't play well with others, especially bossy super soldiers who wear Spangly outfits." He replied before throwing a blueberry at her head.


	18. Night and Lies

_Chapter 17: Nights & Lies_

Loki sat in the glass cage. He was smiling to himself because it was all going according to plan. S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen right into his scheme. Of course the God of Mischief put up some fight; to make it look convincing enough that he wasn't letting himself be caught THAT easily. It had been so deftly easy to make it look like he wasn't about to go quietly – it was, after all, one big lie; an act. Loki, for once, had been so full; so confident that he would get every last thing he wanted.

Until he found her with the monster.

Loki's move to subvert Clint Barton – brainwashing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with the Tesseract staff - had been improvised; since Loki so very easily saw the relationship between HER and the assassin. Of course, the God of Mischief hadn't expected himself to exit the Tesseract in the heart of enemy territory. He had been waiting for his vanguard to open the Cube, giving him a warm welcome. Well, even certain things were beyond his control, as was the woman.

His little S.H.I.E.L.D. puppet informed the God of Mischief everything pertaining to the young woman; including S.H.I.E.L.D.'s decades old plans for the Star-Child. Project Z.E.N. was an anathema to his queen; being stripped of one's humanity and turned into a mindless killing machine – a plan to use the woman's star-based powers for their own ends; possibly breaking the young woman's mind; molding it into a mindless puppet, using her to do whatever S.H.I.E.L.D. ordered. The brain-washed archer had betrayed every little detail that he had gleamed about the young woman: it had surprised the Asgardian/Jotun to discover that the young woman had indeed been to Earth before, landing on the planet decades before. She hadn't told him that – then again, he hadn't asked.

The silver-tongued liar leaned forward in the steel and glass cage and connected his fingers in front of his face; letting his thoughts take him where they might. So many things raced around his head – most of them pertaining to the young woman who was now an unwitting pawn in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dirty schemes.

He had met her after Odin had banished him from Asgard; letting the Jotun bastard fall into the starry abyss from Bifrost's broken edges. She had been his saving grace; the ancient brightness in her heart. It had all – it was all – for her sake. The Chitauri, the Tesseract, the war on Earth. The war against Earth hadn't been in his mind until after Loki had negotiated for her freedom from Chitauri hands. Things had gone all wrong: the Chitauri had handed him the Tesseract Staff and manipulated his mind like Loki had done to Selvig, Barton and several other soldiers.

Shaking his head, Loki refused to let his mind drift towards the Chitauri – of what they would do to her if the war-like aliens found out Loki was going to betray them. He had planned, plotted and schemed to use the Tesseract to help his queen. She was so lost, like him, and her home was only memories in her head.

Ordinarily, Loki could have cared less about a woman such as her, but he had discovered an ancient truth; or Loki discovered and she thought it only a dream. She was a reincarnate from a sentient race who had been far more powerful than Asgardians – a threat ending in genocide. Odin had all but annihilated the race long, long ago; and the only references found of her people were in books and scrolls, legends. When Loki had found out the truth, he had a fierce yearning to possess her and make her his. It had been pure accident, his discovery, but the revelation had been heart-stopping. The trigger had been physical contact; his own true Jotunian heritage stripping away her lies: revealing her true celestial body which was something exquisitely breath-taking.

Standing up and shaking off the haunting memories, Loki paced the steel and glass death trap S.H.I.E.L.D. had stuck him in. He could so very easily slip those bonds and hunt for the young woman; but it would be far more rewarding to wait for her to come to him; as he had grown to know her mind well during their dimensional travels. Oh yes, she would succumb to her anxieties and be drawn back towards him; burning with questions and yearning to figure him out.

Loki paced in the cage; allowing his mind to turn to more immediate problems: namely his own anger at seeing his queen in the presence of others – how DARE she allow another man touch her heart. Yet; she had. Loki could-should have expected nothing less, her heart and emotions were a huge part of her charm; the young woman had a depthless well of love for many things; and part of that spilled into weakness: lust. Loki found it so very easy to seduce her, manipulate her feelings to suit his needs. She was a being who was half-ruled by her emotions; and here in this dimension, found several new victims. Oh yes, the little S.H.I.E.L.D. archer had told Loki every little delicious detail of her supposed hidden love life: Tony Stark, Clint Barton and now…the monster.

When he had been escorted by the lab, and upon seeing her, Loki's heart soared with joy and then plummeted when he saw the monster. Barton had told him all about the monster. His queen had been chatting intimately with the man.

Loki would enjoy making her pay for her betrayal. His little queen would soon learn to not easily forget her loyalties.

XXXX

It had been two boring hours since Steve had left the lab in a huff. Thankfully Tony hadn't been a jerk the whole time, having not teased her about her obvious crush on Bruce. Once the initial laughs had been had, the subject was over. Now the two men were working quietly and focused on analyzing Loki's staff. Both Tony and Bruce, ever the scientific minds, had lasered their attention on the thing. She, of course, had been re-assigned to her first job; monitoring the screen for any fluxes in Gamma radiation via spectrometers.

But now, her brain had all but fallen asleep. Her chin rested on the glassed counter; her orbs flicking between the all but unchanged screen and the movement of Tony and Bruce.

Bruce hadn't moved much in the two hours; but Tony was all over the place, fingers mastering all the screens in the lab and brain most likely processing several different things at once.

"Hey, keep those beautiful eyes open, Superstar." Tony's voice broke the silence. "If you're going to pull an all-nighter with the big boys, you can't cut out now."

"Ha-ha very not funny, Stark." She lifted her head off the counter and yawned behind her hand.

"Stark, let her be." Banner said. "She's done a lot today."

"Oh? Has she?" The Man of Iron chuckled. "I bet. Thousand bucks says her brain is busy with…-"

"TONY! Stop that. We get that I have a huge crush on Banner, you don't need to kill me with embarrassment."

"Aha! So you admit you love Brucie." Tony looked exultant. "I knew it!"

"Uhhhhh, Tony…you lame-oid." The young woman groaned into her hands. "I can't fight with you now; I'm not sharp enough."

"By fight, you mean the exchange of sharp-witted verbal communication?" The billionaire chuckled more. "What do you think, Banner; I can leave the lab and allow you two to go at it like rabbi-."

"Tony…" Bruce's voice cut the billionaire off. "Enough."

"Aha! Would you look at that; Brucie's blushing!" Tony crowed further. "Honestly, I can drop what I'm doing right now and let you-…"

"I'M going to get coffee." Jiru shot to her feet and yawned again. "Tony gets nothing; he can get his own. Mister Banner; would you like anything?"

"Ah, no; I- Yes…I would." He answered her. "Coffee, with sugar."

"Very well." Jiru proceeded to march out of the lab, leaving Tony chuckling to himself and Banner shaking his head.

XXXX

When the dimensional walker returned to the lab, Tony was giving Bruce a little 'pep talk' about embracing the Hulk. She stood in the doorway for a little, watching the two interact. To her, it looked like Bruce admired Tony, almost wanted to idolize the billionaire; but was completely afraid to allow himself to open up and do so.

"...It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible privilege." Tony said; tapping his Arc Reactor under the Black Sabbath shirt.

"But you can control it." Banner hissed from the middle of the lab. The scientist was pointedly focused on the mobile grey screen, adjusting the digital readings with a touch.

"Because I learned how." Tony answered, coming to a stop on the other side of the hanging computer screen; his finger sliding across the screen to down-size whatever programs Bruce was focusing on.

"It's different." Banner retorted.

"No, it's the same. What do you think, Superstar?" Tony had finally noticed her standing in the doorway with two cups of hot café coffee in her hands. Bruce stared at her, curious about what she would say. Jiru bit her lip, hesitating before she responded. She had read his file from S.H.I.E.L.D., and knew her own opinion was shaded with personal feelings. Also, her brain wasn't at all helping; since it was sleeping.

"The Hulk...is a part of you, Bruce. Just like how the Arc Reactor is part of Tony and the starburst diamond is a part of me – symbiosis. I think that the Hu...Other Guy is a larger part of you than you care to admit; he isn't only there when you're angry, but also when you're vulnerable...like when Tony was teasing us about…me having feelings for you." Her sleep-dull eyes stared at a blank point between Tony and Bruce. "Tony had to deal with the metal in his chest, it would have killed other men; but he was clever enough to make the Arc Reactor and save himself and I think that you'll be able to as well."

Tony nodded, showing his agreement with her. "I read all about your accident. That much Gamma exposure should've killed you."

"So you're saying that the Hulk, the Other Guy, saved my life? That's nice. That's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?" Bruce questioned a little bitterly between the two. He looked a little miserable; and she just wanted to hug him, but instead, remained silent and where she was.

"I guess we'll find out."

"You may not enjoy that."

"And you just might." Tony said before beginning to work again. A singular silent minute ticked by before Jiru moved; Bruce's gaze was locked into hers, both of them thinking about each other's angst. Tony coughed, interrupting their stare fest.

"Undressing each other with your brains is making me feel uncomfortable." The Man of Iron chuckled. "Take it to a room."

"Hhmm." Banner broke eye contact first, and focused on the screen, pulling the program Tony had downsized back up.

"Tony, be nice. You just ruffled Banner's feathers and now are trying to…I don't know." Jiru stepped further into the room and offered Banner one of the coffee cups, yawning. "Pardon me."

"Ok, Superstar, somebody's tired." Tony jumped into their conversation. "You go to bed right now."

"What?"

"Bed. B.E.D. Sleep. Which is a shame because I have so much to talk to you about." Tony lightly placed a hand on the small of her back, taking the other coffee cup from her hand. "Also, thanks for the coffee, Supernova."

"What what?" Jiru's brain wasn't at full speed, so it allowed Tony to expertly guide her away from Banner's curious look and towards the lab door.

"Say good night, Banner, she's going down." Stark chuckled as he escorted her out the door. The last thing Jiru really remembered was Tony walking her to her bunk-room and kissing her on the forehead goodnight.

"Good night Superstar."

XXXX

"_Lovey." That silky, hypnotic voice whispered into her ear. "Open your eyes, Lovey."_

_Jiru gasped and sat up in her bunk, opening her eyes. The lights in the room were dead; and only the dim blue-white emergency ceiling-rim lights were on, making the small Helicarrier room barely visible. The blue lights alone told her something was wrong. Normally it was more yellowed lights that illuminated the room; set on very low. Sliding out of the bunk, she stumbled towards the door; feeling crossing a miles-wide cavern in those three steps._

_Finally finding and opening the door - by pulling it by the emergency handle - Jiru confirmed her feeling of wrongness. The Helicarrier hallways were dark, like her room, and lit by the blue-white lights. Nobody was in sight; something very wrong against S.H.I.E.L.D. procedures._

"_Hullo?" She called out as she exited her room. "Tony? Phil? Steve? Bruce?"_

_Nobody answered; and nobody showed themselves. Taking a cautious step into the hallway, she decided to carefully make her way to the science lab. Turning the corner, she found Steve, Captain America, conversing with Thor. The two men didn't turn to her; and Jiru suddenly found the hallway commonly lit, bathing the two warriors in normal light._

"_Captain? Thor, what's going on?" She stepped closer to the two men, acknowledging a feeling of fear. The two men finally turned to her; ceasing their whispering talk._

"_Traitor." The two men said in unison. Steve stared down at her with cold eyes, before turning his back to her. Thor only stared blankly at her before turning on heel and walking away._

"_What?!" Her heart lurched in pain. "What'd I do?" Jiru tried to follow Steve and Thor but they vanished in to the suddenly dark hallway. "Steve! Wait, what's going on!?"_

"_You are a disgrace to S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Chirpie." An ice-cold feminine voice hissed from behind. The confused dimensional walker spun around to find Natasha Romanov staring death. "Agent Barton would be disgusted with you, you little tramp."_

"_What'd I do!? What's going on around here?" Jiru was frantic now, trying to figure out why she was the focus of such negativity. "Why are you so mean?"_

"_You are a traitor to Barton's sacrifice. I hate you." The Black Widow hissed at her; turning her black-clad back to Jiru. The Black Widow faded into the blackness of the hallway._

"_SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THE HEY-HO is going on around here?! What is wrong!?" Miss Star stalked down the light-dark hallway (the lighted parts flickering in and out of existence) wanting to know why everyone was giving the cold shoulder._

"_The problem is you, you traitor." Fury's voice came at her from the side. "You've not only lied to S.H.I.E.L.D. about Loki; but plotted Earth's downfall with him."_

"_I have not! I've only….I can't remember. Loki's been brainwashed."_

"_Liar." Fury brought his gun up, beading on her, and shot three times. "Go to hell."_

_Gasping in shock as she felt an overwhelming surge of annoyance and anger at being shot, Jiru gave a sobbing cry as she found herself in the blood-red-whiteness of the science lab. The once white features were drenched in red – something not like blood, but red light – dripping and pooling randomly around the room. Tony and Bruce were moving sluggishly about the room, ignoring her._

"_Tony! Bruce; please, what's wrong?" She found herself immobile; statue-d in place like stone. "Why does everybody hating me?"_

_Bruce Banner stopped moving, stopped whatever it was he was calculating and lifted his head to stare straight at her. The look of pure distain and pity in his eyes knifed her heart; bringing tears of shame and sorrow to her eyes._

"_Bruce, please, no…" She pleaded. Bruce turned away from her, giving her the cold shoulder._

"_He's very upset at what you did, you little whore." Tony's voice drew her attention. "We all are."_

_Turning to Tony Stark, she choked with pained emotions. Stark stood there, cold as ice and staring at her; waves of hatred roiled off the genius – her billionaire playboy philanthropist genius hero._

"_What did I do!?" She begged once again._

"_You sided with Loki." Was his answer._

"_No…"_

"_You did, you have and you will. Always Loki. It's too late, Superstar, you've picked your side." Tony shook his head and turned his back to her._

_Falling to her knees and beginning to weep, Jiru was aware of the darkness engulfing her. A light flickered before her and Phil Coulson stepped towards her._

"_No, not you too, please. I'm begging, don't hate me." Her lips grounded out the words of pain and despair._

"_Miss Star, I'm right here, don't worry." The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent – void of his normal packet and phone – stood in front of her and she felt utter relief. "It'll be ok. I'm right here."_

"_Phil, please don't go." She stood up and clung to him; like a solid steel beam in a hurricane._

"_I'm not going anywhere, Miss Star. I'll stick with you." Phil's smiling face eased the hollow despair in her chest. His hand reached up and cupped her cheek – a warm palm resting against her own skin. "I have faith in you, Miss Star, don't ever doubt that."_

"_Open your eyes, Lovey, and see the truth." Loki's voice screamed through her head. "Only I will keep you safe!"_

"_PHIL, NO!" Jiru howled in utter heartbreak as Loki pushed Phil Coulson over a cliff._

"_Only I will keep you safe." Green eyes pierced hers and tore her soul out from its roots._


	19. Silver Tongues

_Chapter 18: Silver-Tongues & Stars_

Thor stood in front of the computer screen, staring at the young woman's video – something that Son of Coul had discreetly pulled up for the God of Thunder to see. It was actually two computer files; of two different women: Thor's beloved Jane Foster – who was undoubtedly safe at the moment in some obscure location as assured by Coulson – and the shorter woman; Jiru Star. The grainy video was slightly difficult for Thor to follow; Coulson had mentioned something about it being made in a time before technology was made better. The fair lady Star was being held in a very spacious white room, much like a prisoner of war. It was, for Thor, disturbing to see such a bright-personality treated in such a manner.

Having briefly seen the woman during the meeting on the Helicarrier's bridge; Thor's thoughts had been filled with queries and conundrums. Just who was Jiru Star? Even her name was different from what Thor was used to during his time on Earth. She did not look any different than the average human; the small percent of Earth's population that Thor himself had seen so far. The God of Thunder asked Coulson why the coloring of her hair was different than it was in the video; and his friend had to explain the reasoning behind the woman dying her hair another color.

Which brought Thor's next thoughts to his brother; Loki. Coulson had informed Thor Loki had been highly interested in the young woman – more so than Jane Foster – so S.H.I.E.L.D. had dyed the young woman's hair to hide her uniqueness. His brother had indeed made mention of the young woman after Thor had extradited him from the jet-ship in which Iron Man, Agent Romanov and Steve Rogers had been transporting a captured Loki in.

X

"_I have grown in my exile, ODIN-son." Loki sneered at Thor as the two gods stalked about the night-covered cliff. "I have seen worlds and places you have never dreamed of; I have found a daughter of a race your 'precious father' had exterminated. I have discovered the true power of the Tesseract…"_

"_Who controls the would-be king, Loki?" Thor bellowed in wounded curiosity. "Who has shown you this power!?"_

"_I AM king; and she; She will reclaim her glory by my side."_

X

Could she be the daughter of the race Loki mentioned? The woman looked human enough, but Loki looked like an Asgardian prince himself when in truth he was a Jotun, an Ice Giant. Could it also be possible his brother had finally found a soul humble enough to share emotions with? The young woman certainly was optimistic enough to shine light on his brother's troubled heart. Thor had much to think about; on top of the fact his brother – his beloved brother – was alive and causing trouble.

XXXX

It was the time right before the sun rose, but Jensek didn't care; he, like his fellow soldiers ran on whatever time Director Fury ordered them to run on. In fact, he was grateful Director Fury had assigned him to this post; the bodyguard of the woman who had single-handedly saved the base in New Mexico. She had also saved his life. Having been assigned detail during the Tesseract tests, Jensek didn't find anything interesting about the whole ordeal – that was, until the psycho pseudo-god-alien popped out of the portal like some cheesy sci-fi flick. Jensek, like his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers, was ready for the threat; nerves like steel and guns aimed at the intruder.

Then, of course, the unexpected happened; and although S.H.I.E.L.D. trained them to react in any scenario, Jensek found this one rather startling. The alien intruder went after a non-combatant/civilian on the premises; the blue-green haired young woman who was brought in from outside to help with who knew what. Sure, the young woman was a curious sight for unaccustomed eyes; but Jensek figured she was the kind of youth-ish punk-chick who wanted to make a statement with wacky colored hair. It was intriguing to later discover that her hair was naturally like that.

None of that mattered when Director Fury barked an order to safely extract the young woman off premises with due haste. Jensek was the closest to the young woman when Fury ordered her to safety, so his years of training kicked his hindbrain and him into gear. Jumping into action and courteously bodily guided the young woman out of the cavernous death-trap, Jensek spoke in calming tones to her. It was pure miracle that both of them remained bullet free; since guns were discharged shortly thereafter.

It wasn't until the elevator that things got sticky; the energy down below was causing earthquakes and ended up affecting the elevator. It, again, was pure luck that opportunity presented him with the chance to save the young lady and pushed her through a thin gap of escape through the stuck-between-floors elevator. He had ordered the young woman to run, forgetting about him and getting herself to safety outside. Having done the best he could, Jensek had then set to try and pry the doors open further so he himself could get out.

Surprises continued to assault him, however, as just thirty minutes later, his comrades pulled him out of the once-broken elevator, looking to all the world as stunned. When asking, Jensek discovered that the young woman had been med-evacuated out after fixing the base-wide sinkhole that the errant Tesseract energy had created. Photo pictures proved the massive shocking damage to the base; which was difficult to believe since Jensek found nothing resembling a war zone – other than broken glass. Every bit of glass was broken and on the ground. He believed the stories; because he remembered all too sharply, falling down as the elevator broke from its cables and plummeted six stories down before stopping on top of a cave in.

It was days later when Jensek was called in by Fury, the S.H.I.E.L.D. director finally found the soldier who had protected the young woman and debriefed him about the same woman. Fury then assigned him to guard duty at night; standing by the young woman's door to insure nothing untoward happened to her. (There was some fear in the ranks, mixed feelings towards a woman who had power enough to save and fix a massive fucking sinkhole and broken buildings that looked like they'd been bombed.)

So that was where he was now, standing at attention next to the room-bunk's door, waiting until Agent Coulson came and relieved him of his post.

"Hey, Jensek, you waitin' for that chick to wake up to get some?" A soldier's voice rang out in the hallway. Lt. Rik Jensek scowled at the owner of the voice: Private Greer Conner. A few of his comrades trooped down the hall, making their early-morning rounds of the Helicarrier hallways.

"Shut the hell up, you prick." Jensek joked back out as two other soldiers trooped past him. "What would you know about guarding a respectable young woman?"

"Is that what she is? I heard that billionaire Stark over in the science lab has a huge fucking hard-on for her." The third soldier laughed as he thrust his pelvis out lewdly. "I bet she's a little slut in bed."

"You and your dirty mouth, Tanker. Why don't you go wash it out with soap and vodka." Conner nudged his friend in the elbow. "She's a goddess, she saved our asses back at the base when it blew up."

"Tch, I wouldn't know anything about goddesses…she's plain looking enough now that Director Fury changed her freaky hair color." The third, Private Jackson 'Tanker' Tankson, sniffed and tapped his thick-toed boot on the door Jensek was guarding.

"Director Fury put her in W.P.P. (Witness Protection Program) for a very good reason, you dick-face." Jensek scowled at the Private. "That wanker Loki is after her, and I say that's a very bad thing."

"Probably wants tap her ass." Greer chuckled, wagging his brows at Jensek. "So, what's she really like?"

"I wouldn't know…-" Whatever he was going to say next was interrupted by a distressing cry in the room behind him; indicating the young woman inside was in trouble.

XXX

Jiru gasped as she flailed out of her bed; moving like it was sprayed with fire. Giving a choking cry as her body thumped onto the hard metallic floor, she flinched as tears spilled out of her eyes, blurring her vision.

"Ma'am?" The door opened and a S.H.I.E.L.D. soldier rushed in, with two more behind him.

"NO!" She shouted at them, her brain disoriented by her heart-breaking night terror. "Coulson! Oh my God, where is Phil!"

"Ma'am, Agent Coulson is on the bridge working." The tall soldier kneeled down in front of her, lowering his gun. "Do you want me to call him?"

"YES!" She answered; the raw pain in her voice made the soldiers wince.

"Give me a moment, then." The second soldier announced and touched his earpiece with his fingers, talking in a low voice.

"Miss Star? Are you hurt?" the kneeling soldier set his gun down and lifted his helmet, to look less intimidating.

"Who are you?" She looked up at a very familiar face – one she had known well in another dimension. "Who the hell are you!"

"Ma'am, I'm Lieutenant Rik Jensek, of S.H.I.E.L.D." The man answered her.

"Rik…" She calmed down some and studied the soldier. His physique was tall and wiry – at least one and half foot taller than her. The soldier's eyes were a deep brown and the hair on his head was the same kind of brown, short and buzzed back. "You're the soldier who-"

"Was with you when the elevator stopped; I escorted you out of danger when the Tesseract Portal collapsed."

"Oh." Her lagoon-green eyes studied the man further; seeing the similarities of then and now. He was the same person who shoved her through the elevator doors in New Mexico. "Thanks, I'm relieved you're alive."

"So am I, ma'am, so am I." Jensek chuckled, helping the woman to her feet. Minutes later, Agent Coulson joined them.

"Miss Jiru, are you all right?" The sandy-haired man waved the trio of soldiers away and entered the small bunk room.

"PHIL! OMG, you're ok!" She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in relief. "I had a nightmare where Loki threw you off a cliff."

"Sshhh…it's ok, Miss Jiru." Coulson, having been caught off-balance by her rather abrupt show of affection via hug, brought a hand up to her brown hair, stroking slowly. "It was just a bad dream, I'm still here."

"Thank god." She muttered into his chest. "It felt so damn real, I was crying."

"It's ok, I'm right here, still taking names and kicking butt." Coulson felt the young woman's smile against his chest.

"Good." She tightened her hug briefly before stepping away; a blush on her cheeks. "Um sorry, I didn't mean to invade your bubble."

Coulson smiled brightly at her, loving the way Miss Star blushed in spite of herself. "It's ok, Miss Jiru, you needed physical proof I'm still alive. The hug was pleasant enough." He teased.

"Oh you dork."

"Indeed. Not at all." Coulson chuckled and promptly turned to the corner, politely talking to his earpiece. "No, everything is ok, Fury. She just had a bad dream."

Jiru felt her brow rose in spite of Coulson's attempt to be tact; poor Coulson was probably dealing with a concerned Fury.

"No, I'll take her with me now. Yes sir." The agent nodded and turned back to her. "Director Fury says now that you're awake, he wants you to talk to Loki."

"Fury's a pisser." She hissed, feeling her relieved mood drain away to neutrality. "I hate him."

"I'm sorry." Coulson spread his hands in show of apology. "Breakfast before?"

"Deal." She nodded.

XXXX

Loki felt her energy seconds before she stepped foot onto the metal walkways. Moving his body into a sitting position from where he had been lightly sleeping on the bench, the god habitually ran his hands over his leather uniform, smoothing out the wrinkles that might have appeared during his doze. Lifting his head and gaze just as she entered the doorway he was facing, Loki felt – reveled in – his body react, a silky smile split his lips upward and his heart took attention; among other things.

"Ah, my little Lovey." Loki drew out. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you saw the truth, Lovey."

"Shut the F up, Loki." Loki's smile twitched in mirth as he noticed her using his name. "What the heck is your problem, anyway? I demand you tell me where you stashed the Tesseract and Agent Barton."

Calculating blue eyes watched as the young woman – how odd it was to find her hair a boring shade of brown now – marched right up to the very glass wall of the cage, close enough for her breath to fog the material. It amused him to no end that she was pretending to be brave, coming so close to him while he was sitting on the other side of the rounded steel and glass cage. How would she react if Loki stood up to his full height? If he strode forward, cutting the distance between them to just the thickness of the glass panels?

"You demand?" He repeated, rolling the statement around on his tongue. "Does a queen demand something of her king?" He stood, changing the height gaze from her to him, she quailed deliciously and removed her hand, the finger jabbing the glass. "I think not, Lovey. I find your attempts at negotiation extremely poor."

Loki thrived at her reaction as he took one step forward; and she, one step back. "Is this the best S.H.I.E.L.D. has to throw at me in attempts to coerce my cooperation? A mere maiden; so desperately out of her element within the throat-slashing, back-stabbing pack of liars?"

"Haha, nice try, Loki." Again she used his name, a rarity among the people Loki was entrapped by. "I know what you're trying to pull. It's not gonna work. I'm wide awake and not stupid. You are obviously trying to intimidate me into a gibbering mass of duh."

Loki tilted his head, making a tiny effort to follow just what the heck she was saying. The effect had the desired result; the minuscule softening of her bright sharp eyes.

"Of course, my dear, I wasn't expecting you to fall prey to my manipulations so easily." Loki clasped his leather clad arms behind his back, intending to further his appearance as non-threatening. "I know your mind well, Lovey, in case you cannot fully remember. We did, after all, slip the Chitauri threat together, did we not?"

Loki knew then, he had her. She paused, contemplating his words. It was so shamefully easy to snare her mind; so weak the wall S.H.I.E.L.D. had built to set her against him.

"I don't remember." She answered him after five seconds.

"Ha! They call me the liar." He was suddenly right there, nothing but the thick glass panel separating them. Loki clenched down harshly on his urges, knowing that he would draw out this cat-mouse game; tantalizing her every nerve before denying her the reward. Her face changed from smug and self-confident to haunted and afraid…aroused. His sharp eyes caught it all; the change in her posture, the way her pulse picked up under her skin, the hitch in her breath.

"Oh Lovey, what have they done to you?" He inquired; bringing a hand from behind his back to caress the glass like it was her face. "Why are you so frightened of your king? When have I ever hurt you?"

"Never hurt me…" She numbly repeated. "I…where is the Tesseract, Loki."

"I know not where I sent the Tesseract…or Agent Barton." Loki smiled to himself, pleased at the way she still stood strong, even though her body was betraying her. "Oh, yes Agent Barton. He is such a strong individual with such passion. You must ache something fierce when he is near, am I right?" Here, Loki stepped back, lessening the effect his close proximity had on her; his eyes still locked on her. "You must burn terribly when he is gone; crying out at night, craving his touch."

"I…-" She hesitated and dropped her eyes. She was all too easy to read.

"But you are such a lost little soul, if you crave everyone's touch. Oh yes, 'Birdie' has told me every little thing S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent him to discover about your mind, Lovey." The silver-tongued god offered another bone-melting smile of such sensuality, that he stunned her into speechlessness. "Did you know he was sent to find your weaknesses, my dear? And such weaknesses you have, Lovey. Such delicious weaknesses; you crave the touch of many…Barton, Stark, Rogers, and…Banner?"

Her gasp of denial was so weak; Loki knew he casted the right bait. Her face was flushed now, her eyes cast downward; fists clenched by her thighs.

"Oh, such a bad little maiden you are, Lovey. Craving the touch of such monsters; such intimate touches. You seek to allure them to your side, catering to your lusts."

"What the hell do you know, Loki, you're the one in a cage." Her shining eyes flickered upward into his and stuck.

"Am I? Am I the one stuck in a cage, Lovey?" Loki mocked her, stepping back once more and spreading his arms out in truce. "Your mind, as of this moment, is too drenched in sensual fantasies to focus on anything but. Your body is trembling, burning, crying out to be satisfied over and over again."

"No.-"

"DO NOT DENY IT!" Loki shouted at her, laying on the intimidation, making her whimper and draw back. "Do not deny the truth, Lovey. You crave subjugation; crave it like the air you so desperately breathe."

Loki stood in his glass cage, buzzing with triumph over his victory of her mind. His little queen stood there, rooted to the spot, eyes closed in concentration as she vainly fought to control her own body. He had pushed all the right buttons and thus, crumbling her meager mental resistance to nothing. All he had to do now was push.

"Little Lovey…" He lowered his voice down to a rough whisper, catching her attention and locking her eyes into his. "You are so very wet, trembling for release. I know, you know; they know…" He motioned to the black-camera dome. "Also know this, Lovey, you cannot escape me. When I have you, and I WILL have you, there will be nothing in that pretty little mind of yours but my touch. You will crave nothing but to live for my touch."

Jiru had had enough. Loki was playing her like a harp; using his silver-honeyed words to get her worked up. He was right; damn him he was right. She primal-ly craved to succumb to her lusts; but was too prude to do such a thing on the Helicarrier; to terrified to give in.

"If you're not going to tell me where the Tesseract is, Loki, I'm leaving." She fulfilled that promise and turned on heel, stomping towards the door; vainly trying to ignore the liquid heat of arousal in her gut. Loki's voice came to her when she was in the door frame.

"Lovey…it was beautiful, was it not?" It slithered into her ears and stuck. "The other side of the Tesseract portal."

Once again, the God's words held her thrall; changing the way her mind went like the wind changed course. She looked back over her shoulder and shivered under Loki's honey-trap gaze.

"It is all for you, Lovey, that I use the Tesseract. You are so lost; but I will keep you safe."

"Whatever." She turned away from Loki and, with a shake of her head, was gone.

XXXX

Author's Note:

I was slightly dreading writing this chapter, but it had to be done. I wanted Jiru and Loki to talk once before the explosion scene. I was trying to get Loki's type of speech down, and I think I did.

As for their conversation, I had a hard time pinning down how it would go, and ended up sticking with hormones. Damn those lovely hot hormones. Yum-Loki Hiddleston.

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! Thanks.

Next chapter:

_Chapter 19: Chemical Mixture_

Where Coulson and Jiru have a moment, Stark ruins it, reveals Jiru's iron armor, bribes her…Fury gets pissed, arguments ensue and things explode in the Helicarrier.


	20. Suits & Stars

_Chapter 19: Suits & Stars_

Coulson waited. He waited for his young protégé to finish speaking with Loki. The young woman wanted to try talking to the god herself, and Coulson told her he would be right outside the door; ready to act if anything went wrong. He blinked when she came stomping out five minutes later, her body as taunt as a wire.

"Miss Jiru? Are you ok?" Coulson stepped towards her, laying a hand on her shoulder. Whatever dialog was exchanged between her and the insane god, Coulson would have to watch the instantly classified vid-feed later. Only Director Fury had access to the past five minutes of happenings within the Helicarrier cell.

"DON'T touch me…" Jiru barked at him. Coulson frowned and stepped back. "Sorry…I'm sorry, P.C. I'm just incredibly hot and bothered right now, and I don't want to be stupid and come onto you."

Ah. Whatever Loki had said to her was that bad. Coulson sighed and straightened his smile.

"That's quite alright, Miss Jiru, I wouldn't mind." He made her pause, stunned out of her hazed mind as it processed his comment. She stood there, mouth open in astonishment. Coulson gazed kindly back at her, enjoying the way she flushed at his veiled attempts in flirting.

"Ah, there you are Supernova, I was wondering where you were." Stark's voice interrupted the moment.

"Damn it, Stark, I was having a moment!" Jiru turned away from Coulson and scowled at the approaching billionaire.

"Ah, no, I believe you were having twelve percent of a moment." Stark stated, winking at Coulson. Coulson chuckled.

"Uh, what?" The young woman didn't get their joke.

"What, you're wanting for twenty percent cooler?" Tony came to a stop in front of them and smiled.

"No, it's thirty percent cooler, Stark. Rainbow Dash is THIRTY percent cooler."

"Really? I pegged you to be more of a Fluttershy or maybe a Twilight Sparkle hidden inside."

Coulson only shook his head and allowed the dimensional walker and billionaire their verbal sparring grounds.

"Twilight Sparkle!? Stark you are wrong in the head? I'm Rarity all the way." She toed the line and stared up into Stark's face. Coulson easily saw what the Man of Iron was doing; Stark was defusing the situation for the woman by drawing out her playful side. Coulson could only mentally applaud Stark for a job well done.

"Rarity?! Are you kidding me, Sparkles?" Stark staggered back in faux affront. "I say you are wrong: You are through and through Pinkie Pie. I'M Rainbow Dash."

"Wait, how are we even talking about this!?" Jiru stomped her foot and glared at Tony. "I just woke up."

"It's about time, Supernova, I was just about to come and drag you out of that bed." Tony nodded and pulled out a Stark phone – the very one of which Coulson just recently had.

"Stark…how'd you manage to get that back?" Coulson looked perturbed and checked his own jacket pocket – the pocket in which he had kept Jiru's confiscated Stark-Tech phone in. It was empty.

"What, are you kidding me, Agent Coulson." Stark looked at Phil. "I lifted it off you last night. I am very put out with you, Agent Coulson. Taking my stuff's stuff."

"Oh swell, here we go again." Miss Star placed a palm on her face. "Tony, I'm not your 'stuff'."

"Of course you are, it says on the contract." Tony pressed in close against her and jammed the phone into her hand. "Here's your phone back, I've managed to upgrade it with all the latest software."

Coulson stepped back, allowing Stark to take over Miss Star's attention. Phil watched as Tony leaned over and began pointing out all the new features on the phone. It made his heart soar to see Jiru's smile one more. Coulson thought back to last night, when Stark revealed he knew about Phil's feelings for the young woman and tried to convince the agent to take time off and take Miss Star to Florida, in order to confess those feelings. Coulson simply had to find the time to tell the young woman how he felt; how deeply intrigued he was by her and the way his heart soared when she laughed. It would all have to wait until the Tesseract threat was gone.

"If you two are focused on that, I will leave her with you Stark." Coulson coughed, interrupted the two's close conversation. "I'm still needed on the bridge."

"Ok, go on, we'll be fine." The billionaire shook a hand, waving Coulson away.

"Very well. Miss Jiru." Coulson nodded once at her and left. "I'll see you later."

"Fine, P.C. see you later." She answered; half-focused on the Tech-Phone.

"Finally! That busy brown-noser is finally gone." Stark exhaled in relief, stepping away from her.

"What, did you chase him off, Stark?"

"He was being nosy." Stark confessed lamely.

"Stark…be nice."

"I AM nice."

"Whatever."

"Oh, come on, Sparkles. Let's go do more science!"

XXXX

Banner needed sleep; needed sleep and a place to…relieve himself of a certain itch. Stark had deemed it necessary to tell every little thing Tony knew about Jiru Star; educating him about the young woman and her habits. Bruce now knew her better than before; including innate things such as her favorite color, animals, television shows, foods, books, hobbies and style of clothing. The billionaire decided to even introduce Banner to a few of Stark's…sneaky NC-17-rated videos – the genius had a cache of six or so vids of her personal moments, nothing to graphic, just her in the shower or changing clothes. Banner was helpless to resist, unable to tear his eyes away from the Stark-Tech screens. If he hadn't been so tired – and interested – he would have assuredly lost control and let the 'Other Guy' teach Stark a lesson in prudence and privacy.

But, as it was, Banner fell prey to Stark's manipulations and sneaky attempts to play match-maker. It was amusing to finally sort his thoughts out on both Stark and Star. Both of them were outgoing and had contagious personalities; Stark was loud and narcissistic whereas Star was bright-eyed, keenly observant, cheerful and optimistic. It was a mind bomb for Banner to hear her story of dimension-hoping.

It was utterly, completely and eye-opening-ly amazing. Of course it should have been expected, in a world of anger-fueled Hulks, high-flying Iron Men, super soldier Captain Americas and Norse thunder gods. To add a young woman wielding the power of several supernovae packed away in an adamant form, a diamond; Bruce was stunned beyond comprehension.

"Well, I'm surprised you haven't dropped on the floor in deep sleep, Banner." Stark's voice snapped Bruce out of his hazy reverie. Lifting his eyes to the lab door – the same one Stark had exited ten minutes earlier in search of Jiru – Bruce smiled in reaction to the person Stark dragged in.

"Say 'good morning' Superstar." Stark chuckled and allowed the young woman to step into the lab.

"Oh shut up, Stark." The young woman rolled her eyes. Bruce chuckled and shifted in his seat, clamping down on certain urges.

"Oh, come on now, Sparkles, don't be a sour-gumball. Banner here has been up all night. With me."

"Oh Lord help us all." She snarked; bringing a smile to Banner's face.

"Good morning, Miss Star." Banner said, catching her eyes.

"Pffft, Good morning…Bruce." She clucked.

"Since when are you on a first-name basis with Banner, Supernova?" Stark nudged her in the side.

"Since he ASKED me to call him Bruce. STARK."

"Then I demand you call me Tony…or Super Tony…maybe Tony the Genius?" Stark was already goading the young woman.

"Demand this, you dork." Jiru laughed out loud and poked Stark with the same electrical measuring stick Stark had assaulted Banner with last night.

"OW!" Tony jumped back and scowled. Bruce couldn't help but chuckle.

"Payback's a bitch, ain't it?" She waggled the zap-stick in Tony's face, her own face mirthful and devious.

"I concede defeat. Superstar 1, Tony; 0." Tony's lips curled into a smile; as he took the zap-stick from her and set in back on the counter.

"Haha, I win."

"Your prize…" Stark rejoined the young woman, draping an arm around her shoulder. "Wait to you see what I have for you, Supernova."

"Oh goodie, I can't wait." Jiru smiled in spite of herself as Tony shuffled into work-mode, guiding her towards the center of the lab.

"Here, stand on that disc, if you would."

She nodded, briefly studying the thin black three-by-three foot black pad. Of course it would be something Stark had brought, since it had white printing proclaiming his name. Taking a step onto the pad, she watched as Stark went to work on a nearby terminal. What happened next was enough to make her heart stick in her throat.

Blue. The hologram blue of Stark-programming bloomed into life around her body.

"Oh, god. Tony…you didn't…" She said breathlessly, her eyes focusing in on the hologram around her.

"I did, what do you think, Superstar." Tony turned to her and stepped closer. Banner, over at the desk sat up and took attention.

"Tony…"

"Ah-ah, just shush and take it all in." The billionaire's blue eyes sparkled with playful lust.

Jiru focused as much as she could on the blue lines engulfing her body. The holo-pad she stood on brought Stark's genius into visual life. The diagrams of his design curving around her physique like a glove. Everything was blue, white and blue light, indicating the bends and grooves of the suit. Tony had made her an iron suit…just for her. The lines showed where the gloves bent, how high the boots snaked up her thighs, the shape and form of her helmet.

"Here, Sparkles. Look at the color scheme and tell me what you think." Tony said, swinging a mobile Stark screen into her view. "I had a difficult time choosing colors, so I went with grape and gold."

Her eyes widened at Stark's final product; showing brightly on the screen.

The helmet was slender, curving and feminine; being colored gold and grape. The face plate, gold, was fashioned like a five-pointed star – well, three points while the bottom rounded around her cheeks and then down around her chin. The top point lay on her forehead with the two horizontal points sat right over the arch of her eyes. The side pieces, metallic grape-purple, sported tiny white wings, and covered her ears. The wings sat slightly higher than the helmet, since they were a relief carving. The top-rounded eye slits sat nicely in the gold face plate, over her vision; glowing Arc-Reactor blue.

The shoulders sported gold orbs, almost like gauzy bubble shoulder pads, separating the grape-colored metal arm pieces with the upper torso. The elbows were grey in color, showing where the arms bent and allowed movement. The lower arms, grape in color, sported two jagged fins on the top, reminding her of fish fins, or the teeth of a serrated knife. The gloves, like Iron Man's suit, held palm-placed repulsors, circles of gold in the otherwise grape solidness. The fingertips were tipped in golden yellow, probably allowing for something like lasers to be fired from them.

The torso of the suit, the chest and stomach, Jiru viewed; was all purple, except a three-inch-width stripe down the center of the stomach: that was gold. The stripe started right under the breasts and ended right at the Spartan-style skirt top. This suit had a skirt! The skirt flared out slightly, accentuating the curve of her hips. It was a good thing that the suit had leggings because that skirt was really, really short. Grape metal skin covered her upper thighs, giving way to gold under-boots. The gold under-boots then, in turn, gave way to purple, knee-high boots. Those boots went down to her feet, being interrupted by gold-plated ankle trim and golden toes. The footing was grape, like the rest of the suit.

"Tony, this is…amazing!" Jiru tore her eyes away from the screen and looked at him.

"Ah, I knew you'd love it, Superstar. It's my best work yet." He actually looked humble. "Did you see the chest piece? I managed to work your diamond to power the suit." His hands worked and brought the zoom in closer on the upper chest piece. "Also, it's not iron, the suit itself is made out of a steel-titanium alloy."

The chest-piece was decorated by two hollow lozenge-shapes, gold in color, tilted and touching at the tops. The very center piece was round and empty, most likely to hold her diamond fragment.

"Wow, just wow. Tony, I'm impressed. You actually made something for somebody OTHER than yourself."

"Smarty-mouth." Tony rolled his eyes and pulled the screen containing the image of the feminine iron suit away.

"He was up all night shoving that in my face, Jiru. He couldn't wait to show you." Banner spoke up, drawing her attention to him. Whatever else she was going to say, was interrupted by a ping at the computer. Tony and Bruce both rushed to the terminal that made the noise.

"Are you two doing something spy-ninja like?" She stepped off the black pad and the hologram shut itself down. "Up to trouble like always, Stark."

"I deny that accusation, Superstar. You know from the start I hacked Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"You smart-ass, just say S.H.I.E.L.D." She rolled her eyes. The two men gave no answer as their attentions were focused on the screen.

"Stark?" The looks on their faces gave her a very ill-feeling. Banner's face crunched into concern, as Stark's face went from playful to absolutely livid. "Bruce? What's wrong?"

"Superstar, sit." Tony barked at her in an uncharacteristic anger. She sat, abruptly. Minutes ticked by, the silent tension sent the air quivering. After an eternity, Tony threw himself away from the screen and locked eyes with her. Remaining silent, he pulled something out of his pocket and stalked towards her. It was the Vibranium container that held her diamond shard.

"Ok, now you're scaring me." She replied as Tony glared at her, wrenching the top off the tiny container. "Tony…what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, Sparkles, just put this on and don't do anything stupid." Tony caught her hand and poured the tiny diamond into her palm.

"Bruce!?" She pleaded, turning her eyes towards the Gamma-radiated scientist. She felt the diamond grain sitting heavy on her palm, sinking into her skin, settling right below the epidermis. The familiar power coursed through her system; feeling like a gentle breeze on skin.

"It's ok, Jiru. It's nothing you did." He answered as Tony moved angrily away from her.


	21. Chemical Mixture

_Chapter 20: Chemical Mixture_

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury came bellowing into the science lab two minutes later, his dark-skinned face absolutely enraged. Jiru flinched in her seat, cowering under the voice.

Tony who was fiddling with something on a computer screen, only shot a gaze at the clearly furious Fury. It now was clear that S.H.I.E.L.D. had discovered the infiltration/hack job.

"We are; the model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce's hardened voice intervened, and brought up the tracking program on a computer screen. Jiru felt the change of atmosphere; from lack-a-daisy to simmering anger.

"And you'll get your Cube back. No muss, no fuss. What is Phase Two?" Tony asked, swinging a hanging screen to face Fury. "Also, what the hell is Project Z.E.N.?"

She saw it now, the imagery that made Tony and Bruce so affronted. The Tesseract cube diagram was trans-morphed digitally in a sleek missile. The knowledge pinged in her head and her mood synced with the scientists'. She should have known Fury would use the Tesseract for war.

Steve walked into the lab with a metal case before Fury could answer, or evade, Tony's demanding questions. The soldier was carrying a futuristic sleek gun, of which he slammed onto an empty counter.

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. using the Cube to make weapons." To Tony he added. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-" Fury's voice was suddenly calm and smooth.

"I'm sorry, Fury, what were you lying?" Tony turned a computer screen, showing everyone in a lab an outline for a nuclear weapon.

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said sullenly, glaring at the director, then the gun.

"Did you also know about this?" Banner asked both of them while gesturing to another screen. It showed her and Loki talking; which was just thirty minutes ago. "You let Miss Star go near that bag of crazy?"

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha's voice slid into the fray, directing itself towards Bruce. The Black Widow slinked into the lab, eyeing the physicist.

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." Bruce now was leaning back against the counter which held Loki's Staff. "Until S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to throw her at me, no offense, Miss Star." Banner shot her a glance.

"Loki's manipulating you." The Black Widow toned.

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

The tension was rising in the room. Jiru remained sitting, unsure what to do. She had a nagging sense that something really, really bad was going to happen soon. She just couldn't pin down the feeling. Her mind was full of conflict and concern at the moment.

"Director Fury…answer the question: what is Project ZEN?" Jiru's mind had caught the key word: Zen. The word was very meaningful for her and made her miffed S.H.I.E.L.D. was using it.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha sneered at Banner.

"I'm not answering that, Miss Star." Fury shot back while Thor heaved his way into the lab.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction and why you allowed Miss Star anywhere near Loki." Banner interjected again, his voice growing in volume.

"Because of them." Fury pointed to Thor and Jiru, interrupting the dispute going on between Bruce and Natasha. The God of Thunder had trailed in right behind Agent Romanov, for what reason, Jiru couldn't figure out.

"Me?" Thor looked surprised. The dimensional walker blinked, just as shocked as the blonde god was that Fury had blamed her.

"Yea, No." Stark snapped, moving towards her. "None if this is her fault."

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town." Fury explained, staring Stark, Banner, Thor and her down. "Before that, Miss Star here decided to exert her powers and cryogenize several hundred people. We learned then and with Thunder God over there, that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out-gunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor defended.

"HOW DARE you blame me, Fury!" Jiru snapped out, feeling Tony's presence next to her.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor growled out.

"Right because a nuclear deterrent always calms everything right down." Tony quipped.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury glared at Tony.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" Steve was saying before Tony cut him off.

"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this about me now?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve said. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but Thor jumped in.

"I thought that you people were more evolved than this."

"I'm sorry, did we go to Asgard and blow stuff up?" Fury spat out.

"You treat your defenders with mistrust!" Thor protested.

"Oh, please, don't be so naïve." Romanov turned to the god beside her. "S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats."

"Captain and I are threats?" Jiru screeched out, incredulous. They all kept arguing, too busy to notice the ominous glow of Loki's staff on the table behind Banner.

"Put on the suit, big man." Steve Rogers challenged Stark, stepping in the genius's face "Let's go a few rounds."

"We're not a team! We're chaos. We're a chemical mixture…a time-bomb." Banner protested.

"Doctor Banner, please, calm down." Fury requested.

"Why don't you let him blow some steam?" Stark asked, throwing his arm out in annoyance.

"You damn well know why, Stark." Steve answered, angered. "Back off!"

"Make me."

"Big man in a suit of armor." Captain pointed out. "Take that away, what's left?"

"Genius playboy billionaire philanthropist." Came Stark's snarky answer.

"I knew guys with none of that worth ten of you! I've seen the footages. The only thing you fight for is yourself! You'll never make the sacrifice play, lay down on the wire for another person…" Captain America stated like it was the truth.

"I would probably cut the wire." Stark interrupted. "You know, like somebody with brains."

"Always a way out. You may not be a threat, but stop pretending you're a hero."

"A hero? Like you?" Tony snarled. "You're nothing but an experiment, 'Cap'. Everything good about you came out of abottle."

"You people are so petty." Thor laughed, watching Steve and Tony toe the line. "And tiny…"

"FUCK YOU, Thor." Jiru's voice lifted above the arguments between Steve and Tony. The dimensional walker stepped over to the towering Norse god and ineffectually slapped him across the face – it was very difficult to deliver pain to a god who was two feet taller and built like a tank. Agent Romanov, Stark, Banner and Rogers turned to her, surprised by her angry outbreak – the room grew very quiet. Thor stared down at her, slack-jaw in surprise.

"Petty and tiny, you say, you brain-dead bastard. You have the nerve to say that, when you're so tiny in your fears about your brother, Loki. You let him fall, Thor. You could have dove into the Abyss to save him, but you didn't. What was stopping you, huh? Do you KNOW how much Loki suffered?!" Her revelation stunned Thor; it stunned all of them – all of them except Fury; who was watching Banner very carefully. "Have you even TALKED to Loki yet?"

"Agent Romanov, would you escort Banner…" Fury began, his brain whirling at the speed of plot. Miss Star's outbreak had affected the scientist to the extreme.

"Where? You rented out my room to that psycho-god." Banner retorted, the anger thick in his voice. Now the attention was on him.

"The cell was just in case…" Fury explained.

"…In case you needed to kill me. You can't! I know. I tried." Banner winced as the young woman turned to him, her eyes flickering from anger to pity.

"I got low, real low; and didn't see an out…so I put a gun in my mouth…and the Other Guy spat out the bullet. I moved on." Bruce physical felt sick at the look in those precious lagoon-green eyes; they were so full of shock and sorrow – all on his behalf. "I focused on helping people in need, sick people. I was content. Until you _dragged me out into the open._" Banner turned to Romanov – the very agent who had extracted him from Calcutta - with anger in his brown-blue eyes. "Do you want to know my secret, Agent Romanov? Do you?"

"Banner…" Fury warned Banner, readying his gun. Next to the dark-skinned man, Romanov shifted her lithe body to mirror Fury's moves. "Please, drop the staff."

Everyone glanced across at Bruce and noticed that his eyes were locked on Jiru. The room noticed how Bruce was now holding the scepter because they all went quiet. Natasha and Fury reached for their guns which were holstered on their hips. A look of surprise appeared on Bruce's face after noticing that he was grasping the scepter. A beep sounded from the computer signaling that the Tesseract was located.

"Sorry, folks." Banner muttered, still upset, moving towards the computer after dropping the staff back on the computer. "You won't see my party trick today."

XXXX

Author's note:

A two for one chapter update yay. I split this one into two chaps, for easier reading.

next: things go boom, people die, don't die, and King takes Pawn and Queen.


	22. Boom

_Chapter 21: Boom_

Tony Stark had a secret. Well, he had several secrets; some would never see the light of day…ever. But his most recent secrets had to do with a certain young woman of extra-dimensional means - that and her insanely cool super powers. Those came from her broken diamond, which was still large enough to give any jeweler a wet dream. Tony had bribed her to give the diamond to him and she did. For that, the billionaire loved her; like a shiny new toy…possibly as a woman.

It wasn't until the whole Tesseract threat revealed itself that Tony even thought about her, having run rampant using the diamond's power to create new ideas and such. When Phil Coulson had overridden Stark Tower securities, and shown up without the young woman, Stark knew he had made a huge mistake. He allowed the young woman to go with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on some super-not-so-secret mission. When she didn't come back; well Stark was very upset. Coulson had informed Stark that the young woman was in a witness protection program because of what happened at New Mexico; which only made sense, because just two hours earlier, an unknown assailant had broken through the Stark-Security system Tony had outfitted her apartment suite in and changed everything to the color green. (clothes, furniture, appliances)

When Stark opened the classified S.H.I.E.L.D. files Phil Coulson had handed to Pepper (which she handed to him), it gave him the clues to figure out just what was going on that threatened his rescued damsel in distress. The Tesseract, the mysterious blue cube that was the center focal point for the classified files, was incredibly similar to the Starburst Diamond. Whether S.H.I.E.L.D. knew this or not, Tony did. And if the threat, Loki, wanted the Tesseract (which he had) the insane god might go after the Starburst Diamond next.

Having Coulson's reassurance that Jiru was safe, Tony still chomped at the bit, wanting to rush to the woman's side to see for himself she was safe. It took a while, from the time Tony thoroughly studied the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tesseract files, to capturing Loki, to alighting on the Helicarrier to setting up house in the science lab, to see that she was indeed safe.

Now, that Stark had hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. mainframe for their dirty, dirty secrets – something WAS up after seeing how desperate Director Fury was to find the still-missing Cube – Tony was absolutely livid to see those secrets, namely on how Fury had used Superstar to try and learn Loki's plan.

So, knowing that S.H.I.E.L.D. brow-beat her into talking to Reindeer Games – she was most likely naïve enough to trust Fury somewhat – fueled Stark's anger, causing him to turn waspish. So that was where he was now; in the Helicarrier science lab, along with the estimable Doctor Bruce Banner and Jiru Star, simmering in his anger over the shit he pulled from S.H.I.E.L.D. files. Tony stood nearly hip to hip with the young woman, ready to whisk her out of the anger-heated room; away from Loki.

XXX

"Agent Romanov, would you escort Banner…"

Stark whipped his head at Director Fury and glared. His Superstar had just bitch-slapped Point-Break – he'd have to nail Thor a painful one later because she really didn't hurt the god – and ruffled Banner's feathers. Stark knew the young woman had the hots for the Gamma-radiated scientist; and Banner, for her.

"Where? You rented out my room." Banner retorted, the anger thick in his voice.

"The cell was just in case…" Fury spat uselessly.

"…In case you needed to kill me. You can't! I know. I tried."

Beside him, Tony felt his Supernova go rigid; her sharp brain focusing on Banner's angst. Stark winced, feeling his anger up a notch. She should not have to go through hearing Banner's pain; and Banner shouldn't have to bring it to light. Fury really was a dick, Stark thought.

"I got low, real low; and didn't see an out…so I put a gun in my mouth…and the Other Guy spat out the bullet. I moved on. I focused on helping people in need, sick people. I was content. Until you _dragged me out into the open._ Do you want to know my secret, Agent Romanov? Do you?"

"Banner…" Fury warned, readying his gun. "Please, drop the staff."

Stark then noticed Bruce was now holding the scepter because they all went quiet. Natasha and Fury reached for their guns which were holstered on their hips.

"Ah, Banner, careful now." Stark muttered, watching how Bruce's eyes were locked on Stark's arm draped around Jiru's shoulders. The genius quickly removed them like he had touched something hot; which she completely was.

Both he and Jiru caught the look of surprise on their friend's face when it changed as Banner's brain registered he was grasping the scepter. A beep sounded from the computer signaling that the Tesseract was located. Jiru moved away from Stark, as if suddenly she remembered it was her job to watch the Gamma algorithm screen.

"Bruce, the screen, it's got a really big spike showing." Stark chuckled mentally at her words, his was mind being dirty. Tony eyed Banner as he moved into action, approaching the screen and Supernova.

"Oh my god." Banner's eyes went wide after he took a long look at the screen. No one else spoke, no was able to, since the next event in the science lab was the blossom of fire sprouting from the floor beneath.

XXXX

The Asgardian god had chosen Barton for the man's strength of heart - more like, because Loki's queen had a crush on the agent. Loki told him this, and Barton accepted it as truth. Hawkeye was enlightened to just how wrong he was about the cyan-haired woman. She was on Loki's side; coming to earth in effort to open the Tesseract portal and let Loki through. Loki's dimensional queen had completely fooled all of S.H.I.E.L.D., him and the world with her coy little act of being lost in time and space.

Loki, with Barton's inside intelligence, plot out a way to not only undermine Fury's attempt to pull together a team of unique powers to track down the Tesseract, but also to rescue Loki's queen from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nasty clutches. She was Loki's queen, and in turn, it was Barton's place to focus all his time and energy helping Loki rescue the woman.

So now, Barton had answered Loki's call and planned to take S.H.I.E.L.D. down, as per Loki's devious plot. Hawkeye figured Fury's position was hidden away on the invisible-turning behemoth Helicarrier, along with the woman who would be Loki's queen. So, after allowing Loki to offer a distraction, gain the final stabilizing Iridium Selvig needed to make another portal, Barton bided his time until the staff tracker picked up on Loki's staff.

Clint Barton aimed his arrow, calculated the trajectory factoring in wind speed, and distance, and fired. Loki's plan to test the Avenger's mettle was rolling along smoothly, as it had from the start. He hadn't slept in three days, but Barton didn't care; all he could think about was rescuing the young woman for Loki. His body was begging for sleep and food, Barton didn't let that get in the way of his urges, Loki had built up Barton's deeply hidden need to satiate his lusts on the woman – Barton had jacked off at least five times with her in his thoughts. It was so good; Loki had shown him the truth – Barton loved devious women and Jiru was that.

Smiling to himself as the wind buffeted the inside of the rouge S.H.I.E.L.D. quin-jet, Barton curled his fingers around his bow and pressed the button which would ignite the bomb-loaded arrow which had pierced the skin of the Helicarrier. The Avengers wouldn't know what hit them when the arrow exploded.

XXX

Jiru barely had time to say anything to show Banner her concern, as he stalked over to the beeping computer. The world in the next second exploded with fire and heat; scattering the science lab and the people within (her, Banner, Stark, Thor, Steve, Fury, Romanov) every which way. She was thrown backwards, against the inside glass wall of the lab, her back shattering the glass with the force of the explosion. Two other bodies followed her path, she couldn't tell which two for a few seconds until she and them landed.

"_Put on the suit."_ Jiru, in an oddly disaster-clarity way, heard Steve and Stark above, back in the lab.

"_Uh, yeah."_ Stark answered the sharp voice of Rogers. The next voices she heard as she laid there, stunned, were coming from a radio.

"_Hill! What happened?"_ Fury's angry voice thrummed into her ears.

"_External detonation, sir.__"_ Hill's sharp voice answered. _"__Engine number three down.__"_

"_Can we fix it?"_

"_Turbine's mostly intact."_ Hill commented. _"But we can't fix it while in the air."_

"_Stark?"_ Fury asked. _"Do you copy?"_

"_Heard ya."_ Stark's tinny voice joined the fray. _"Heading right to it."_

"_Coulson."_ Fury continued. _"Initiate lockdown protocols on the detention area, then go to the armory. Romanov, where is Miss Star?"_

Coulson…Jiru thought, Where is he? Where am I for that matter? She fell backwards, through glass and landed on hard steel, knocking the breath from her diaphragm – that was going to hurt her spine something nasty in the morning. Bits and pieces of glass and metal shrapnel lacerated her vulnerable skin – a long shallow slash from under her chin across her cheek, paper-like cuts on her arms and hands - but miraculously enough, nothing too deep nor threatening. Something else landed on her, making that critical intake of breath rather shallow. None of that skirted the front of her thoughts, however, as that heavy body landed on her wrist. Crying out in pain as the audible snap replaced the far-off words, she tried to curl herself around her broken wrist, but found she couldn't.

Opening her eyes to see just was pinning her there in the glassy mess of Helicarrier innards, she winced as her eyes looked upon Bruce Banner. He had landed on her, catching her spread-eagle and pinning her arms out; pushing down on her wrists to the steel floor. It there wasn't crazy exploding chaos and sharp stabbing pain, Jiru would have blushed and feel her gut roil in aroused heat. He was on his hands and knees straddled over her, staring starkly down.

"Ji…" He started to say, but failed, as his face contorted in angry. Somehow, she knew he knew his fall broke her wrist – hurting her something awful, which most likely made him angry where as Stark had all but failed.

"No..don't…it's…" Jiru gritted out falsely as he quickly removed his heavy hand from her snapped wrist. She instantly brought it to her chest, cradling the pain with a choking sob.

"We're fine." Another voice interrupted Jiru's thoughts. Turning tear-blinded eyes to her right, she found the Black Widow next to them, laying on her black-clad stomach and focusing her razor-sharp attention on the pipe pinning her leg and her and Banner.

Banner ignored Romanov and shook his head fiercely; trying to deny the fact he had hurt somebody he just recently came to care about: her. Drops of spittle escaped a contorted mouth, landing on metal and some on Jiru's skin. It was slightly disgusting. Bruce growled out.

"Aren't we?" Romanov asked, nervously. Jiru watched, detached, as the assassin hissed and waved away two metal workers who suddenly appeared to investigate the explosion.

"Y-you should…o-out…" Banner kept mumbling, his voice becoming harsher and harsher.

"Banner?" Romanov said. "You got to fight it. This is what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. I swear on my life, we'll get through this…"

"YOUR LIFE?!" Banner snapped back, throwing his glare at the deadly woman, his eyes glowing green, his facial features deforming, expanding.

They gasped in horror at the transformation above Jiru, as Banner convulsed on the floor, trying to fight the inevitable. He finally dragged himself off of her and scuttled into the shadowy background of the place there were in. Jiru heard the ripping sound of fabric tearing and snapping of possibly shoe leather.

Beside her, Romanov squirmed out from under the pipes and reached over to her, but stopping when a low, deep growl came from Bruce five feet away. Both women looked: the mild-mannered scientist now stood twice his height and size, his skin an earthy-moss shade of green, veins popping all over suddenly massive muscles that had erupted from nowhere. The clothes hung off his frame, shredded like a slasher had gotten to it. It was sad to see the endearing purple shirt she had color-changed for Bruce reduced to rags.

_It_ looked back at them. Bruce, now the Hulk, growled at Romanov, possibly warning her away from Jiru, who was hurt. The Hulk didn't want anyone touching the dimensional walker in her wounded state, and Romanov was crossing that line.

"Romanov…no, don't run…" Jiru hissed out as she clearly saw the raw fear on the woman's face. It didn't help, as the red-haired woman turned and sped-limped into the bowels of the Helicarrier.

The Hulk roared as Romanov triggered the hunter-prey syndrome of the Hulk. The voice was loud enough to make Jiru whimper and clench her eyes shut as she weakly tried to muffle her ears. Miss Star would vehemently deny the fact she did slightly wet herself in response to the Hulk's angry roar. Her ears rang with the noise, missing (feeling instead) the heavy running steps of the green behemoth as he gave chase to a fleeing Romanov.

One thing was positive, thought, Jiru laid there, among the darker broilers and many pipes, untouched by the angry green person.

XXXX

Author's note:

I half-hate this chapter because it can be improved. I wanted to focus on the fact that Banner broke Jiru's wrist and triggered his anger, but I don't think I portrayed his transformation (that scene) well enough.

Feedback will help lots!

_Chapter 22: Star, Liar and Hawk_

In which Knight, kills Pawn captures Queen; Pawn threatens King, and S.H.I.E.L.D. generally falls into chaos.


	23. Star-crossed Liars

_Chapter 22: Star-Crossed Liars_

Jiru finally struggled into a sitting position in the bowels of the Helicarrier, being thrown there by whatever the crap had exploded. Her normal jovial mood was killed flat – what had gone wrong? Glass had left small lacerations over her face, hands and arms, her spine and tailbone ached something fierce, along with the back of her head where it landed on the stupid steel floor, and her wrist was broken – almost painful enough to start her cursing loudly and profusely. Her other hand clenched her broken wrist protectively as her brain slowly rebooted to lay out, in thought, what just had happened.

Bruce Banner had snapped, after he figured out he broke her wrist (it was purely an accident) and turned into the Hulk. Romanov ran off terrified of Banner's alter-sona and that triggered the Hulk's instinct to chase; Jiru warned the woman to stay still, but failed to get across.

She didn't know where Stark was, nor anybody else for that matter; the voices she heard before in clarity were silent. However, the echoing roars and angry sounds coming from the Hulk were still pinging around the innards of the Helicarrier. Poor Banner was most likely still aiming his anger at Romanov; the Widow did drag him into the whole situation after all. She ought to go help calm the Hulk down, since Fury hinted it was her job to do so. Her body didn't want to respond, opting to sit there in the semi-dark, stewing in pain.

"Hello?" A voice caused her head to swing up. Tromping footsteps echoed closer to her position. "Any injured over here?"

"I'm over here, whoever you are." She called out, doing her best to not move her pained wrist. Five soldiers tread out of the shadows and closed in on her. They were friendly, no guns were in their hands, but slung on their backs. They looked vaguely familiar in the bad lighting. Two of them were shorter than the rest, but it was the lead solider her eyes watched. Jensek came into the light, carrying a bulky Med-Aid kit.

"Oh, it's you, the elevator soldier, Jenksenk." She gave the soldiers a quizzical look.

"Lt. Jensek, Ma'am." The man corrected her.

"Jensek…what's going on? Aren't you afraid of the Hulk?" The pain was quickly overriding her post-fall adrenaline, possibly heading her body into shock.

"No, ma'am. Me and my men are here to take care of you." The short-haired tall man answered, kneeling at her side, throwing open the med-kit. "Director Fury assigned me to guard your room at night so nothing bad happens."

"Huh, Fury's a pisser."

"Indeed he is, Miss Star, if he has the guts to put a civilian like you in harm's way." The fourth man spoke up, and she saw it was the same grey-eyed man who had first escorted her to Fury three days back. She studied the rest of the soldiers as Jensek immediately set to work checking her for injuries.

"Multiple lacerations, bruise on the back of the head – no concussion thankfully – strained spinal cord, might need to check that; broken left wrist, and facial burn, two percent." Jensek spoke clearly and sharply to the man behind him, a five foot something with green eyes and black curled hair peeking out from underneath a pair of spec-goggles. The man repeated what was said into some techno gizmo and motioned to the tall man in front of her to proceed with whatever critical care S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers did to treat injuries.

"This may sting some, Miss Star, try not to move too much." Rik smiled seriously to her, and brought up a roll of white medical tape to her wrist. "Just keep looking at me."

XXXX

Tony was flung off his feet when the room flared with fire, landing awkwardly on his side. His instincts came to the forefront and craved the protection shell of his Iron Man suit. The only other person close by was Steve Rogers, whom Tony had just been avidly arguing with.

"Put on the suit." The star-spangly man croaked.

"Uh, yeah." Stark answered, pushing to his feet, and throwing himself out the door. Steve was right there next to him, giving hands in keeping Tony on his feet as the Helicarrier hallways blinked with red alarm lights.

It was then his racing billionaire brain caught up with his equally warp-speed reactions. Superstar. Where the hell was she? Tony turned to go race back into the ruined science lab when Rogers caught his elbow.

"Stark, now's not the time for that."

"The hell it isn't; old man. She's hurt." Stark all but bit the soldier's head off. "She's the lightest weight and could have been flung god knows where."

"Focus on the bigger picture, Stark…" Cap's eyes hardened at what Tony was playing at. "Her file says she really can't be killed while she has her diamond…"

"That's the problem; she only has a tiny sliver of it." Stark snarled.

"It'll be enough." Captain America pulled the billionaire further down the hallway, away from the lab. "We've got to get out there and fix this. It there are any more explosions, more people just might get hurt or worse."

"_Stark?_" Fury's voice came over the ear-piece com that Steve wore. "_Do you copy?_"

"_Hear ya._" Stark grabbed the ear piece from Steve and brought it to his mouth. "_Heading right to it._"

"_Romanov, where is Miss Star?_" The S.H.I.E.L.D. director continued.

"_Here, we're here, she's fine, but stunned._" The now-disinteresting red-headed Black Widow crackled the com with her shaky voice. Tony heard Romanov and felt minuscule-ly better, knowing in his heart he had made yet another massive mistake in barring himself from tearing the damned hunk of metal apart to search for his Supernova. He prayed to whatever gods listening she would be well enough until Iron Man could get to her. Stark hoped she would forgive him for not pursuing his own selfish urges to rescue her once more. He would never forgive himself for this mistake. Never.

Then, remembering his connection with her Stark-phone, Tony whipped his out and booted up J.A.R.V.I.S.

XXXX

Clint hit the Helicarrier hallway with barks of instructions to his team of Loki's soldiers and razor-sharp thoughts of his next target: the dimensional walker. She was the Avenger's weakest link, and most likely the lynchpin of the team. She was also Loki's trapped queen. Barton motioned to two other soldiers to follow him and stalked towards the Gamma-readings of Loki's Staff. Wherever the staff would be, she would be very close-by. Hawkeye figured the staff would be in the science lab, since S.H.I.E.L.D. had pulled both Stark and Banner to use their genius to try and figure out the Tesseract staff. The woman would be there, most likely running her mouth and flirting like a tease she was.

"Once I get the young woman restrained, you take her to the detention area and give her to Loki, you understand, Calson?" Barton spoke strongly and evenly to the trailing soldiers behind him. Calson, a bulky Canadian agent wearing S.H.I.E.L.D. duds nodded. The man was tall and had a strong bearing with army training reinforcing those tough muscles. The black-hair on his head was cropped short; matching his black-grey eyes.

Loki had picked Calson up from New York, three days back, when the god and Barton had visited the woman's apartment. The mind-controlling god found it an amusement to discover the lack of an army protecting the abode, and turned the single agent to the dark-side while Barton had easily disabled Stark's security there; giving the god five minutes to do whatever he pleased within the penthouse.

Now Hawkeye and Calson stalked the Helicarrier hallways in search of the woman Loki was so keenly searching for. Loki would get who he wanted today; Barton would make sure of that.

XXXX

When the explosions rocked the Helicarrier, Coulson was more than ready to jump into action. There were procedures to follow and lockdowns to engage. Fury's right-hand man was never one for cringing in the heat of duty. Phil let his legs guide him towards the armory, ten steps ahead of Fury's instructions.

"_Hill! What happened?_" Fury's angry voice thrummed into the earpiece all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents wore to stay connected.

"_External detonation, sir._" Hill's sharp voice answered through the radio. "_Engine number three down._"

"_Can we fix it?_"

"_Turbine's mostly intact._" Hill commented. "_But we can't fix it while in the air._"

"_Coulson._" Fury continued. "_Initiate lockdown protocols on the detention area, then go to the armory._"

"_I'm already there, Director Fury._" Coulson answered the man, as he went down the flights of stairs to the designated place. "_What is the status of Miss Star?_"

"_She's here with me, agent Coulson._" Agent Romanov's voice answered. "_Agent Chirpie is stunned, but in one piece…we're fine._" A hesitant pause. "_Aren't we?_"

Shit, Coulson thought. Something is wrong. A few moments later, Coulson flinched in horror as the Hulk's angry roar echoed through this side of the Helicarrier – quite an impressive feat judging on Doctor Banner's last location; the science lab…with the young woman. Coulson quickened his step to the Phase Two weapons room in the armory. If the Hulk had gone after Jiru, then Coulson would rush to back her up.

But it wasn't the Hulk he should worry about, Phil realized; it was Loki. The insane murderous god had his eyes on the young dimensional walker. Coulson changed his game plan: if Loki's devious scheme had infiltrated the Helicarrier, Jiru Star was in jeopardy. Phillip Coulson would protect her with his life; and Phase Two's big guns.

Coulson came to a halt in front of the sophisticated eye, thumb, vocal password needing locks on the armory. He'd pick the meanest, largest, wickedest gun and point it at Loki.

XXXX

Jiru twitched as her back pocket vibrated. Reaching back and pulling out her Stark-phone, she rolled her eyes as Stark's snarky face popped onto the screen.

"Hey, Supernova." Tony's voice came from the digital screen.

"Tony, geez, what happened?" Jensek had bound her wrist and was focusing on the slice on her cheek.

"Something exploded, duh." Stark answered, sounding gruff.

"Geez, I know that…"

"Ma'am, please move the phone, I need to get to your ear." Jensek stated evenly.

"Are you having sex with somebody else, Superstar?" Tony's voice chuckled.

"Shut up, you moron, it's medical help… I broke my wrist."

"Wow, sounds painful."

Whatever else she was going to say was suddenly cut short as one of the standing soldiers grunted and collapsed like a puppet whose strings were cut. The three other men followed suit, keeling over like rag dolls.

"What the!?" She blinked, and stared – her momentary focus completely on the caring Lt. before her – looked her straight in the eyes as an arrow sprouted from his chest. "NO!"

Jensek wheezed out a surprised gasp and toppled sideways, falling onto the medical pack he had set to his left; sending the supplies clattering across the metal floor. Jiru stared at the group of five men, all dead with arrows through their hearts – so much for bullet-proof vests. Only one person could bury arrows through hearts like that and he was currently missing, brainwashed by Loki.

"Hey, Chirpie, miss me?" Clint's voice snarled from above. Jiru struggled to her feet, her emotions chill and dull. Turning her view from the five dead – heroic – men upward to the large window that she had been flung through from the science lab, she blanched to see Hawkeye standing there with the daylight silhouetting his profile, giving him the advantage of higher ground and visual supremacy. He stood there, bow in hand and guilty as sin for killing good men.

"Ah-ah, princess, don't even think about it. I'll disable you with an arrow before you blink." He snarled at her and tapped his fingers against his weapon; the black bow.

"You killed them." She stated swinging her good arm behind her. "How could you kill them!?"

"Easy, they were touching Loki's woman." Clint's vicious smile spread across his face, making her shiver.

"I'm not Loki's-"

"LIAR!" Barton shouted at her as he jumped – and landed – down into the place with grace and ease. "Loki told me all about you, Chirpie. I can't believe I trusted you." He was right there, in her face, swaggering and setting her hormones on fire. "You were plotting with Loki the whole time; it was you who opened the Tesseract portal, letting him through."

"No, I didn't…"

"It's no use lying to me, princess…" Clint frowned and let his gaze trail over her, making her shiver again.

"Superstar." Tony's authoritative voice came through the tech-phone. "Just run, run and don't look back." Jiru knew Stark had been listening the whole time, and heard Clint's voice.

"Ah, Stark, the billionaire lover. I bet you want to f*ck her raw, Stark." Barton's crazy grasp clasped her right wrist harshly, dragging her phone up to his sleep-deprived face. "Did you know Loki has already done that?"

"Jiru…Run." Tony's voice pleaded, taking on a hard edge. He never - rarely - called her by name.

"I don't think so." Clint squeezed her good wrist, causing her to cry out and drop the phone. It clattered to the floor and met with Barton's hard heel; Hawkeye stomped on the phone, breaking it into uselessness.

"Clint, don't…don't do this." Jiru's eyes watered with renewed wrist pain as Barton broke the only link she had with Tony. "You've got to fight Loki's brainwashing spell."

"Shut up, you little sl*t." Barton hissed at her, dropped her wrist and backhanded her across the face. "You will come with me." Blue-glowing eyed men dropped down next to Barton, one of them held Loki's staff. The second man handed Barton a roll of silvery duct tape and Jiru whimpered, stepping away from Barton.

"Please, Barton, don't do this." Her courage was fading as her physical pain thumped around her head.

"Shut up." Was all he snarled as he grabbed and yanked her arms behind her back. The loudness of the duct tape was dreadful in her ears.

XXX

Author's note:

For those who have wondered, this IS a Stark/OC & Loki/OC.


	24. Loki Escapes

_Chapter 23: Loki Escapes_

Tony Stark was going to kill Clint Barton…in the nastiest way possible; Stark would have to Google the web for just that, but he would do it. It made the billionaire sick to his stomach to imagine just how much trouble his Superstar was in if Barton had gotten to her. Hawkass was so going to die today; when Iron Man was finished doing his thing and getting the huge Helicarrier engine moving again.

"_The relays are intact._" Rogers's voice came through the radio. "_What's our next move?_"

"This thing won't reengage without a jump…" Stark commented; reading the blue-lit diagnostics that was flitting across the inside of his Iron Man mask. "I'll have to jump in and give it a push."

"_But, if it gets up to speed, you'll get shredded._" The super soldier pointed out.

"The stator control unity can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev, allowing…" Iron Man began to explain.

"_In English, please!_" Steve Rogers interrupted. Stark sighed. Somebody clearly needed to bring the old-fashion out of date Captain America up to speed in the techno lingo of the 21st century.

"See the red lever? You pull it when I give the word and I don't turn into a shish-kabob. Got it?"

Tony had to concentrate fiercely, and stick to the plan; it wouldn't do anybody any good if Iron Man – the only available option on the Helicarrier who could get out into the open and fix the damned gigantic turbine – suddenly left in the middle of the action to go after a single woman. Kicking the now laser-cut-up debris, he siddled between two inert turbine fan blades and placed his Iron Man hands on the closest blade, firing his boot thrusters to start rotating the engine again.

_Hold on just a little longer, Superstar, I swear I'll never leave you alone again…never. You are done with S.H.I.E.L.D., we both are…_ Stark gritted through his chaotic thoughts and leaned into the now slowly turning turbines, exerting his enhanced energy to start the ruined engine again. _Just hold on…_

XXXX

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dimensional walker was hazed with pain, uncertain fear and indignant with rage. Barton had slapped her across the face, yanked her arms and duct tapped them behind her; then assaulted her before slapping a piece of silver doom across her mouth to keep her from shouting and spitting. The bruise on her face would be aggravating to explain – luckily the late Lt. Jensek had finished enough to treat her cuts on her face and hands. Curse Barton for killing the five men back there.

Also, damn Fury for not giving her something – anything – to use to communicate her location and situation; she could really use a cliché rescue right about now. Her hero Stark must be absolutely enraged after Barton had destroyed her tech-phone, cutting the Man of Iron off. Tony was probably the only one who knew Barton had gotten her to; Romanov and Banner/Hulk had gone crazy and left her behind. But as it was, the blue-eyed crazy men dragged her along the empty hallways, getting closer and closer to Loki's cell – it was an educated guess as to where the two soldiers were taking her, as per Barton's orders. Feeling slightly relieved that Barton hadn't used Loki's staff to brainwash her, Jiru focused on using her wits to get out of this insane situation. Pain made that difficult, though, as did the being dragged along by crazy men.

Where was everyone anyway? Thor, Steve, Tony – Stark was probably Iron Man, flying around outside fixing whatever Barton blew up; Banner was Hulk-ed out, chasing Romanov. Phil Coulson…Jiru figured out she could-would depend on him to get her out of this crazy mess.

The soldier dragging her along finally stopped yanking her restrained arm and shoved her into the same round room she had been in that morning (was it two hours ago?). Loki stood there in the steel and glass cage, looking like he was patiently waiting to just walk out.

"Hello again, Lovey." His voice slipped into her ears. The god then frowned as he took in the sight of her bondage. The staff-carrying man tromped over to the controls podium and opened the cage's door. Jiru stiffened; a shiver ran down her spine. Loki was free; there was no thick glass and steel between him and her now.

"Oh come now, Lovey, don't be frightened." The wily-witted god claimed his staff from the man who opened the cage. "I would be grateful if you were happy to rejoin me, my little Star-child."

She would have said something quite nasty to the god had Barton not slapped a piece of tape over it.

"Oh right, Barton was thorough in my request to restrain you." Loki's eyes softened as he moved over towards her, running a hand through her brown hair. "I hope he wasn't too demeaning on your person, my dear. I would be very put out if he hurt you."

She flinched, pulling away from the slender hands of the God.

"Oh, hush, now, I mean you no harm." Loki's brow creased slightly, as he dragged his fingers through her brown hair. "Your hair; please change it back."

Deciding to humor the god in hopes of buying time to escape, Jiru exhaled through nose and focused on the tiny diamond grain in the palm of her hand and then sent a blip of energy to her hair, changing its color. The hair salon-dyed cream brown faded as if it was melting off her strands, the turquoise coming back a darker shade of its previous status; looking even more natural than before.

"Ah, that is much better, Lovey, your natural colors suit you better than dirty hues." The Asgardian psycho-god leaned over and buried his nose into her now turquoise colored hair. "I see you have found the next shard of your treasure, Lovey. It is most fortuitous; this shard's power, it alters the color scheme of objects, does it not?"

Loki's dialog was one-sided as the woman in his hands had tape over her mouth. Had it not, her mouth would have twisted in disgust. The leering god was right, it seemed like the diamond shard S.H.I.E.L.D. had kept from the 60's was able to change the color of things. Swell, her 36th shard made things change colors while she NEEDED her larger fragment; and its options of teleporting and healing.

"Hush, now, Lovey. Worry not about your powers, I will keep you safe." Loki circled once her before tossing his head up as if he heard a noise. Wrapping an arm around her waist (shamefully enough, Loki's actions made her feel better) and guided her away from the open doorway. "It looks like my brother has come to put a stop to my nasty plot."

Glaring at the insane god as he tucked her out of the way, putting himself between her and door, Jiru snorted as seconds ticked past and gave way to Thor barreling into the room, falling into Loki's clever illusions.

The blonde-haired Thunder God was a moron, rushing at the fake Loki as it mimicked the actions the real god took sixty seconds prior. The fake-Loki was casually stepping out of the cage, looking at the control panel. Then, the Illusion-Loki turned to face a bellowing Thor and crouched defensively as if it was the real thing; as if Loki was bracing himself to physically stop Thor.

"When will you ever stop falling for that?" the real Loki sneered as Thor found himself splayed on his stomach in the glass and steel cage.

The dimensional walker watched with null interest as Thor discovered the ruse and made it to his feet just as the cage door slid shut. The god shot her a look of stunned disbelief and lifted his hammer, Mjolnir, pointing at her. Loki shot her a glance and smiled, slithering over to the control panel.

"She is my queen, brother dear. The sentient race your precious father had all but exterminated."

"You stop this madness right now, Loki. Release her; she has nothing to do with this." Thor shouted from within the cell.

"She has everything to do with this, dear brother." Loki taunted Thor. "They say that we Asgardians are immortal, shall we test that theory, Lovey?" His blue eyes landed on her as his hand hovered over the release button; the trigger that would send the cage and Thor plummeting in free fall. The brainwashed man who had dragged Jiru into the detention area grunted and collapsed on the floor, having been knocked out from behind.

"Step away from the button and the young woman, Loki." A third voice ordered the bragging Loki. As a group, they turned to the voice's owner.

Agent Phillip Coulson stepped over the bad agent he had knocked out and pointed a rather large and impressive gun at Loki. The gun, looking heavy in the way the agent held it, had a large enough barrel to stick a fist in. The gleaming black metal was offset by glowing scarlet slashes, showing the insides of the powerful gun.

Pulling her eyes off the gun and aiming them at Coulson's calm and confident gaze, Jiru felt the tense fear roll off her shoulders like water off a duck's back. Phil Coulson was here to rescue her and kick Loki's ass. She smiled under the duct tape and stepped forward, not seeing the way Loki slowly backed away from the control panel, his angry eyes boring into her back. Jiru somehow slipped out from behind him and was walking calmly towards the man.

"Are you ok, Miss Jiru?" The sandy-haired agent stepped in front of her, not expecting an answer. "You like this?" Coulson now spoke to Loki, bringing the gun up and letting it hum with energy. "Even I don't know what this does…want to find out?" At that moment, Loki's image flickered and disappeared.

XXXX

"Step away from the button and the young woman, Loki."

Loki heard an unfamiliar voice and turned; finding himself face to barrel with a wicked looking plasma gun. Lifting his hands slowly and taking a step back away from the control panel, he watched in dull amusement as his queen turned her back to him and slide behind the man holding the gun. Phillip Andrew Coulson was one of the agents Barton had told Loki about, and how he was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best agent. Loki doubted not the man's qualifications now and instantly found himself annoyed as the young woman's confused, frightened, outraged energy changed into relief; all because of the agent's daring rescue. Then Loki looked at his brother, plastered against the inside of the glass cage, his annoyance turned into consuming fury. Thor was looking relieved too, as the man standing in front of his queen had shown up to deny Loki his plot.

_~Kill the annoying insect, Asgardian.~_ That ever-present voice in Loki's head, the one belonging to the leader of the Chitauri army, echoed. _~Kill the insect and break your brother's sense of fight.~_

Loki found the wisdom in this; in killing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent instead of brainwashing him like he did Barton. His brother would be hurt most exquisitely. The Chitauri voice in his head urged him seductively into committing the action that would deal a grievous wound to his brother's ego.

Loki, sneered, flickered and vanished.

XXXX

Jiru blinked, suddenly regaining that horrid, sickening feeling of something calamitous about to happen. It did. A leather clad arm snaked around her waist, drawing her back away from Coulson as a flash of gold raced past her peripheral vision and slammed into her friend's back.

"NO!" she heard Thor's voice thunder out, a shuddering thoom as his hammer left a fist-sized spider-webbed impact on the thick glass cage. The first-stage safety latches on the cell disengaged; waiting for the final release. The cage, after all was meant to hold the Hulk. Curse Fury for that too.

Her eyes, still darting about to find Loki, registered just what was unfolding before her. The gold staff was on her right side, almost resting on her shoulder. It went past her face into empty space before burying into Coulson's back; on the left side where the human heart was. Blood began to leak out of the…the…entrance the staff made. Her stomach lurched, nearly stopping with the ice her blood turned into. Tears instantly sprung to her eyes, making it very difficult to see.

That infinitely long second turned into eternity as Loki – it had to be Loki behind her committing this impossible act – pulled back the death stick he stabbed Coulson with. Bright red and garnet blood dripped out as the seemingly long staff took its time to exit the wound it made. Six inches of gold-bladed death retracted and finally slid out of Coulson's body.

Her mind blanked out; screaming one word over and over and over again, as if it shut down and only knew one word: No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

Her body vaguely registered the hard metal floor meeting her knees – or what it her knees meeting the metal floor? She fell in-sync with Coulson, as the man buckled over, slumping against the metal wall. Jiru ignored Loki completely as the god of Lies sauntered over to the control panel, stepping over them. She focused her acute attention on Phil, watching in acute horror as the circle of dark red grew and grew and grew, staining his impeccable white shirt. Phil must have seen the look of mortal horror in her eyes because he lifted the hand not cradling the gun to her face.

"Miss…Jiru…run…" Phil's voice croaked. "Forget about me and run. Now."

Shaking her head in pure denial, she remained on her knees and stared, through tear-soaked eyes, at Phil's face; watching as a trickle of blood leaked through his mouth.

"You must…run…" The agent repeated, moving his hand down around her neck to draw her face towards his. "Please…live…"

With that, Phil Coulson leaned forward and kissed her over the duct tape on her mouth.

XXXX

Loki savored his brother's defeated, haunted look with satisfaction. It had never felt so damn good to use mortal technology to humiliate Thor. The S.H.I.E.L.D. base was falling, earth's pathetic team was disbanded, every single 'Avenger' neutralized. Nothing stood on his way now. He turned away from the gaping empty space the cage had left behind to collect his queen and to prepare his glorious war…Loki turned and saw the fatal mistake he made.

The damned agent he stabbed was still alive! Loki felt his body twitch in surprise as the man leaned forward and planted a kiss on his queen's mouth; he viewed how distraught his star queen was. Loki had stabbed the annoying man to hurt his brother; the God of Mischief fatally miscalculated on just how deeply his little queen cared for the sandy-haired man.

His vision went red; the Chitauri voices in his head had blanked out his sense of connection with the woman. Stepping over to his queen, Loki gently pulled her away from the wounded man, staring at the tears streaming down her face.

"Lovey…please forgive me…" He whispered as she sobbed into his chest. Loki drew her in close, and stroked her hair.

She was numb; unfeeling as Coulson lay before her, bleeding to death. She didn't react as Loki drew her away from her friend. Her senses did not register the soft white glow coming from Coulson's wound; instead, she sobbed through her taped mouth as Loki started stroking her hair.

"You're going to lose…" Coulson stuttered weakly, still lying against the wall, bleeding profusely. The agent coughed twice as he felt the massive wound twitch and grow warm. The pain lessened, and something inside him began working again. Coulson still felt pain, and the minute warm flow of blood outside his body, but the cold, creeping onset of death was gone.

"Your champions are scattered. Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?" Loki snarled, his voice taking on a hard edge. The insane god stepped away from Miss Star, and Coulson found that to his advantage.

"You lack conviction…" Loki was about to retort, when Coulson fired his gun, blasting the gloating god through a wall. "So…that's what it does…"


	25. Pulling Together

_Chapter 25: Pulling Together_

Miss Star was in a haze of emotional pain. Loki, after getting nailed by Coulson's Tesseract gun, had reclaimed her and hastily fled the scene of murder. Being gently escorted through the Helicarrier hallways, with Loki's long arm wrapped around her waist, she suddenly realized something was missing; her diamond shard. Coming out of her teary fugue enough to cast her senses out to track down her errant talisman she felt two places. A larger one, converging on the tinier one: Fury and Coulson. The tinier pulse of star energy was back where Loki and she had just been. Her diamond shard was with Coulson? Was it possible…?

Suddenly they were outside, the wind tearing over her face and through her hair, stripping her slow train of thought. Nobody was around on the deck; no Iron Man, no Captain America, no Thor, no thrice-cursed Fury – there to stop Loki from escaping. A single quin-jet stood on the runway, its back open and inviting for Loki's get-away. The Mischief God moved her along as he made his way towards that jet. He bodily guided her in first, as the jet began taking off, and Loki stepped in after her, as the back hatch closed itself.

Her tear-drained eyes watched his pale face contort into fury as he looked at the blood-stained staff tip. Loki then looked at her and his eyes softened, apologetically. She didn't care; whatever feelings she had for the god were killed; sliced away like Loki had stabbed Coulson. She glared hatefully at him.

XXXX

_Helicarrier Detention deck:_

Fury nearly stopped in horror as he took in the sight waiting for him in the detention center; after all the ruckus that had happened since the first explosion, then hostiles trying to bull-rush the bridge, then dealing with a rampant Hulk, to a compromised Barton's successful effort in shutting S.H.I.E.L.D. computers down via arrow-delivered virus – this image of agent Phillip Coulson was sagged against the metal wall, looking half-dead was the worst.

"Sorry, boss." Coulson rasped out as Fury rushed to his best agent's side, removing the heavy-tech gun from Phil's lap, making a brief medical check over the man. "The god rabbited, taking Miss Star captive."

"Don't talk. Just stay awake." Fury advised, concerned. "Eyes on me."

"No…I can't do that boss." Coulson said, feeling his body slide into the pain; it shook twice. "I'm clocking out."

"Not an option." Fury barked out, placing a hand on Coulson's shoulder.

"It's okay, boss…" Coulson coughed. "I tried to…j-just tell Miss Star…They wouldn't pull together withou-" Phil's head lulled onto his shoulder, his eyes closing. Fury lowered his head, his brain racing in anger and shock. The S.H.I.E.L.D. director launched himself back as Helicarrier medical staff rushed to the inert body and began applying medical aide.

"Agent Coulson is down. A medical team is on their way. They're here…they called it."

Seconds later, one of the white-clad aides looked back and shook his head. Fury sighed in aggravation and bowed his head. What happened next made the personnel launch into a flurry of activity, making Fury's last statement a complete lie.

XXXX

"_Agent Coulson is down. A medical team is on their way. They're here…they called it._" Fury's voice echoed through the radios. Having just finished clearing out the last of the hostile men who were trying their best to blow more of the Helicarrier up, Captain America and Iron Man stood in the exposed, ruin part of the fourth explosion-wrought engine turbine; their heads bowed in sorrow. Tony's mind was red with rage.

"What about Miss Star?" Captain's voice barely registered in Tony's mind.

"_Her location is unknown._" Hill's voice stated simply, speaking for Fury.

Minutes later, when Stark had finally removed his banged-up suit and trudged his way towards the bridge; he found his brain working again. The white-rage which had blinded him had subsided some and allowed his synapses to start, to focus on the next twenty steps. There was nothing he could do until Loki – damn the bastard – was located again. The billionaire knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. had removed his Stark-Tech tracker from her body - so much for working together on that account. Tony would kill Barton if the traitorous agent ever showed his face again.

Finally trudging onto the bridge and taking the seat his Supernova had sat in last night, the billionaire barely registered it was late morning. Where was Banner? Didn't care jack-shit about Black Widow, nor the blonde-headed Neanderthal Thunder god – Tony still need to punch the man's face in for Supernova's sake. Why? Tony couldn't remember why.

Not looking up at Fury's entrance, the genius flinched as a broken Stark-Tech phone was thrown, clattering across the rounded table until it slid to a stop in front of Tony.

"This was found below the science lab, with five dead men." Fury's haggard voice was directed at the only two who managed to drag their asses to the bridge: him and Rogers. Tony felt his eyes lower to the mangled phone and stared at it. "Miss Star was able to speak for a few minutes before communication was lost."

"What happened, Sir?" Captain America spoke up from Tony's right side.

"We believe some of Loki's agents got to her." Fury was a damned nasty liar, Stark thought. Nobody should have had access to Superstar's personal digital wave Tony had programmed into the phone. It would have come directly to him, through J.A.R.V.I.S.

"Also, these were in Coulson's jacket." Fury broke the silence again, holding blood-stained 'Captain America' trading cards. "I guess he never got you to sign them…" He threw the cards in Steve Rogers's direction; he stared sadly at them.

"We're dead in the air." Fury continued. "Our communications, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor, Miss Star…I got nothing! I lost my one good eye… maybe, I had that coming. Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract." The one-eyed man continued, and removed the package containing the diamond fragment from his coat and slid it up next to the busted Stark-tech phone in front of Tony. "Yes, Project ZEN had to do a lot with Miss Star and her powers, but I've never put all my chips on those two ideas though, because I was betting in something a lot riskier; the Avengers Initiative. Both Star and Stark were aware of that plan."

Stark simply stared at the glittering piece of rock. "The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them." Every word was like a stab in Stark's heart. "To fight the battles that we never could. Coulson died still believing in that idea. In _heroes._"

That was the last straw. Stark grabbed the starburst diamond, rose from his seat and silently left. The billionaire playboy genius philanthropist was angry at Fury, angry at Loki, but most of all, angry at himself for not protecting his charismatic Superstar.

XXXX

Captain America watched with lost, haunted eyes as Stark left the bridge without a damned sound. The man was as pissed off as Rogers had ever seen him. Their petty arguments last night were all dust compared to how angry was Stark was.

"Director Fury, sir?" Rogers spoke, after picking up one of the bloody vintage trading cards Coulson had spoken about.

"Yes, Capt?"

"Just who is Miss Star? How big of an impact does she have on Stark?"

"Big. She and Miss Virginia Potts are very important to Stark." Fury answered, his voice sounding so very tired. "Miss Star also had an interest in one of our agents, and Banner."

Rogers didn't answer, but paid attention to his train of thought and connected the dots. The agent Fury probably spoke off was Coulson. Phil did mention the young lady just as much as his fascination with Captain America.

"Agent Coulson was the first to offer a hand in friendship to Miss Star." Fury threw out off-handedly. "Stark had her awhile before we could get to her, but Phil managed to be her first true friend. Tony didn't exactly shower her with attention her first month - something she sorely needed."

"Pardon me? First month?" Steve looked up from gazing at the bloody cards.

"Yes, Miss Star isn't from around here. She's not even from where Thor and Loki are from."

"She's what?" Captain America blinked, confoundedly confused.

"She's lost, Capt; more lost than you were when you first woke up." Fury finally sat down next to Rogers. "She's what we call a dimensional walker…and yes there are other dimensions out there other than ours and she's very well lost."

"I'll be damned…" the super soldier exhaled through his nose and stood up. He was so out of his comfort zone and didn't see it coming back anytime soon.

Stalking through the half-empty Helicarrier halls in search for Stark, Rogers felt he understood more of the young woman's situation. From what he could remember from her files, the Man of Iron had rescued her from a freezing death and for that, she most likely fell in love. As for Coulson; like Fury had mentioned, Miss Star needed a tried and true friend in a world she didn't belong to and Coulson had filled that. Rogers now saw that her reactions to Doctor Banner were most likely those of a young woman craving a more intimate relationship – something Stark hadn't or wouldn't fill. For an innocent looking young woman, her emotions reached out to make connections in a situation completely beyond her control, in a place she was a stranger in. Steve finally felt some warmth towards the seemingly random young woman.

XXXX

_Detention Center:_

Tony rushed off the bridge; hoping to leave behind the pain, the anger and the sense of helplessness. When his mind once again overwhelmed the rage, the genius found himself in the cell where the glass and steel cage had once been – where Coulson had faced Loki and died trying to save…save what…or whom? Stark had yet to figure out just what had happened to the young woman he saved in the Arctic. The explosion had tossed her into the insides of the Helicarrier – thank god she flew backwards and not forwards; it was a damned long way down.

Supernova had said she broke her wrist and possibly had more minor injuries of which five or so of medical-treating men were treating when what? Barton, Loki's little dark boy, had killed the men protecting her and…- he refused to think of the darker scenarios the S.H.I.E.L.D. archer could enact. Somehow, after restraining his Superstar, somebody gave her to Loki. Barton couldn't…the bastard was assaulting the bridge to take down the communications or whatever.

When Loki got free, he most likely…Coulson most likely tried his best to save Superstar from Loki's grasp, and ended up dead for his efforts. Now his cheerful Superstar was gone; taken as a trophy by a bat-shit insane madman proclaiming himself god and ruler of Earth.

He suddenly came to a startling realization: Tony Stark was nothing without Jiru and Pepper. Thank God Pepper was safe somewhere, out of the way. He couldn't function if something had happened to Pepper too. Tony should have sent Superstar with the red-headed woman; none of this would have happened…Coulson would still be alive and she would be safe.

"Was he married?" Steve Rogers asked, snapping Stark out of his dark thoughts.

"Uh, no." the billionaire turned his eyes off the empty cell space. "No…, but Coulson had feelings for Superstar."

"I'm sorry…" Steve murmured. "He seemed to be a good man."

"They were idiots!" Tony snarled out, turning to face Steve. "Facing Loki alone… What were they thinking…what was Coulson thinking?"

"He was doing his job." Steve Rogers defended. "If Miss Star was in trouble…"

"He was out of his damned league!" Stark insisted. "He should have waited for back up. He should have called…she would…he should…"

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Stark…"

"There's _always_a way out!"

"First time you lost people in the field?" the Captain said sadly.

"We are NOT soldiers!" Stark snapped back. "Superstar is NOT a soldier. I'm not marching to Fury's little fife nor am I going to let her anymore."

"Me neither." Steve Rogers said. "He has the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we need to put this behind us and get this done!"

"He made it personal." Stark's eyes wandered towards the blood stain on the wall, wincing at the thought of telling the dimensional walker Coulson was dead. She would take it very hard.

"That's not the point…"

"It is. It's Loki's point." Stark explained. "He hit us right at home! Why?"

"To tear us apart."

"Exactly. But he knows that he needs to take us out to really win. He wants to beat us in public. He wants an audience, a stage. Loki's a diva, a prima donna. He wants statues, spotlights, headlines. He wants a huge monument built to the skies with his name plastered on the—" Stark stopped ranting and finally connected the dots. He knew exactly were Loki was taking both the Tesseract and his Supernova.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

XXXX

_Solitary Holding Cell:_

Natasha pulled a chair and sat a little ways from Clint's bed. He was still unconscious. The Black Widow sighed as everything within the past couple hours sank in. The team was scattered. Coulson was dead. Loki had escaped, taking the young woman with him. Natasha gazed up at the ceiling; playing back the thoughts in her head about Doctor Banner – of how she ran, giving into her fear of the Hulk. Clint suddenly moved, straining against the padded restraints.

"What?" Barton growled out, shaking his head. Romanov watched as his arms flexed as he tried to pull loose. The archer was still slightly disoriented.

"Clint?" The red-headed spy moved to the edge of her chair. "Clint, it's going to be all right." The archer grunted in pain and shook his head. "You're going to be all right." Her partner turned and screwed up his eyes as if to make out who she was.

"Tasha?" Clint shook his head again. The ice blue in his eyes faded to his original gray.

"Clint, it's ok." She crooned, reaching out towards Barton. He shrunk back away from her hand, pulling at his restraints. His fiercely throbbing head screamed at him, telling Barton exactly what he had done.

"You know that?" He asked hoarsely, spitting the words out. "Is that what you know?" Natasha winced and sat back in her chair.

"I got…I gotta go in though." Barton took a deep, shaking breath. "I gotta flush him out."

"We don't have that long." Natasha urged him. She walked over to the bedside table and poured a large glass of water. "It's going to take more time than we can allow. Loki's escaped."

"Loki…I gave her to Loki, Tasha." Barton's voice oozed with shame and regret. "She trusted me and I gave her to Loki."

"It's not your fault, Barton." Romanov knew just who Barton was talking about.

"Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?" The archer asked, as he sat in the restraining bed. Black Widow looked over her shoulder at him. Her partner was staring listlessly against the metallic wall, refusing to look anywhere else. "Loki fed me lies about her, 'Tash, and I believed them. I hated her."

Romanov rejoined Barton and placed a hand on his face, drawing his sight away from the wall. She looked down at the padded restraints and then back at Clint. He frowned in confusion.

"Why am I back?" Clint asked quickly, aching to forget his mistake. "How did you get him out?"

"Cognitive recalibration. I hit you really hard in the head." The Black Widow smiled again and began to unbuckle the restraints on Clint's wrists.

"Tasha, how many agents?"

"Barton." She stopped and looked at him seriously. "Don't do that to yourself. It wasn't you. It was Loki and things that we weren't trained for."

The archer sat up, rubbing his wrists. Romanov handed him the tall glass of water. "Loki, did he get away?"

Natasha walked towards the windowed door and nodded. "Don't suppose you know where?" Clint shook his head, bringing his elbows up to rub his eyes.

"I didn't need to know." Barton said. "I didn't ask." He took a long drink of the water before answering. "He is going to make his play soon. Possibly today. He was waiting until he got Chir…her."

Barton's partner turned to face him. "Then we've got to stop him before he hurts Agent Chirpie."

"Yeah? Who's we?" Barton snarled, swinging his legs over the ledge of the bed.

"I don't know who's going to stop Loki. Anyone we have left, I guess." The female assassin replied.

Clint was silent and looked down at his hands. The archer wanted to cut them off; to rid himself of the appendages that hurt the young woman who trusted him so much. Loki had filled his head with so many lies about the alien woman, and now Clint found it impossible to dislodge that kernel of doubt. She had been with Loki before; and came to earth to open the Tesseract portal – how she did that while Barton had made sure she never went near the damned cube. The insane god told Barton everything about her, including her intimacy with him. Barton didn't understand how a woman like her could hold such a condemning lie like that back. Clint sighed and made up his mind; she was innocent of Loki's schemes…she had to be, if Clint was ever going to forgive himself for betraying her. Thinking back before the whole thing started, Clint knew he had taken enough of Chirpie's measure to believe in her innocence.

"Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better, I suppose." Hawkeye stated slowly as Natasha sat quietly on the edge of the bed. "I don't believe Chirpie is in with Loki. We have to go after her."

"Now you sound like you." The Russian spy murmured softly, placing a hand on Barton's knee. Clint glanced at her and turned to look at his partner's face. There was something wrong.

"But you don't." Clint said; his voice was concerned. "What happened? What did Loki do to you?"

"He didn't do anything to me." Romanov answered, looking away.

"Tasha…" Barton questioned again.

"I've been compromised…"

XXXX

_Abandoned Warehouse:_

Banner lost it when he heard the young woman's wrist snap. He felt it give under his own hand, and that, unlike the previous minute where the world exploded, made him angry. It only got worse when she cried out, trying to tug her broken wrist free. After that, his vision went green, then red. Bruce vaguely remembered flashes of red hair and the heavy slamming annoyance of a blunt weapon. He could not remember much of anything else.

"You okay, fella? You fell out of the sky." A voice interrupted Bruce's muggy train of thought.

Banner slowly opened his eyes, taking in just where the Hul-Other Guy had left him. He found himself in a Hulk-sized crater, in the floor of an empty, dilapidated warehouse. He also realized that he was naked; which would have killed him with embarrassment if a certain young woman was there.

"Uh…n-no, I'm okay." Banner managed to stutter out, finally bringing his sight up and behind him. "D-did…did I hurt anybody?"

"Oh, no…" the old feller on top of the debris pile in which Banner was at the bottom of spoke. "There's nobody around to hurt. Scared the hell out of some pigeons, though."

Banner simply nodded, slowly bringing his hands up to rub his face. The old man, looking to be stick skinny and way too old to be guarding such a place reached down behind the jutting broken concrete.

"I got you some clothes, fella, waited until you shrunk down some before they fitted."

"Thanks…" Banner caught the thrown strange clothes and blushed at his naked situation. He most likely would have lost it again and turned into the big guy had the dimensional walker been there. Hastily shoving his legs into the dusty pants, Bruce cast his senses out. Nothing threatening came to show; it was just him, the creaky old man and the busted empty warehouse.

"Are you an alien?" the old guard broke the silence as Banner stuffed on the purple sweater.

"Excuse me?" his eyes went to the old man.

"Are you an alien, son?"

"No, I'm not."

"Well then, you've got quite a condition…"

The physicist chuckled to himself, imagining Jiru laughing at the joke.

"Something wrong, son?" The guard asked as Banner followed him out of the warehouse.

"No, it's just…" Banner tried to explain, looking across the horizon. He found himself very close to Manhattan. The place where he had fallen was just across the oceanic river from the city. If he squinted, Bruce thought he could make out the gleaming white spike of Stark Tower. "There's somewhere I should go, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea…"

"Why?"

"My friends may need me." Banner answered. "But, while I can help, I can also make things worse."

"Well, then you're no different than anybody else." The man retorts. "Honestly, I think you've already made up your mind."

"Indeed." Banner smiled and plotted out his next plan of action.

XXXX

Author's note:

I could have done Banner and Barton's parts a lot better, but my mind is full of Iron Man 3 movie plot, which doesn't help here.

Next up:

Plots, puppies, portals…and plea-bargains.


	26. Loki's Ploy

_Chapter 26: Loki's Ploy_

Author's note:

I'm placing a warning on this chapter due to gun-induced death, slightly graphic. This takes place at the chapter's last paragraph. Be warned.

XXX

It had been a silent twenty minutes after Loki had pushed her onto the stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. jet and aimed it who knew where. The shock of having seen Coulson stabbed nearly to death – Jiru refused to believe her friend was dead, as evidence leaned towards his living – had worn off. Now the pain of her wrist was the focus of her brain.

Loki had been sitting across from her, silent in his own thoughts. Jiru didn't care as her own brain was whirling unto itself. Her mind wasn't still or quiet. She wanted Tony to rescue her, or Steve to come blazing in, punching Loki in the face. Even Bruce would be welcome to Hulk out and tear the traitorous jet apart; anything to get her away from the god she thought she knew. Loki had changed from the mischievous prankster to a downright scary murderous psychopath. Whatever happened after Loki had sent her away from the scary Chitauri-infested dimension had changed him for the worse. Now he was a wanted criminal and had hurt her in worse ways than she thought possible of him. He had lied to her; which wasn't all that surprising, since Fury called him the God of Lies.

Sitting there, leaning her head against the cold metal and leather straps of the jet, Jiru sighed in aggravation and whimpered in pain; which drew Loki's attention to her.

"Lovey, are you in pain?" The silent god finally asked, nearly flying out of his seat as if it was on fire. He was in front of her, on one knee, looking concerned.

"Lovey, please stand up." Loki now was standing over her and eyeing her over. Her mouth was still covered in duct tape; otherwise she would have cursed like a drunkard – not all her curses included actual curse words, but insults as well.

"Lovey…" The god said again, his voice taking on a colder tone. Jiru snapped her eyes into his and allowed the god to maneuver her body into standing. "Forgive me, my love, there is much on my mind. I have been rude for not looking after your injuries." Here, Loki carefully placed the murderous staff-weapon on the bench behind her and lifted both his hands to her face, tracing the white gauze patches that Jensek had carefully placed. Bringing those dangerous digits lower, Jiru stiffened as they danced over her shoulders, down her covered arms to finally come to a rest on her bound wrists. She winced as he probed her wrist.

"Ah." Loki smiled coldly and prodded harder, earning a pained look and gasp. "A broken wrist, is it. Did Barton do that?"

She opened her eyes once the pressure from Loki's inquiring hands lessened. He was right there, wrapping his leather clad arm around her waist and drawing her closer. Taking in his scent – her nose was the only available orifice to breathe through – Jiru closed her eyes in mild pleasure. Loki smelled the same from before: coldness, metal and some Asgardian-named scent like bramble. Her mouth was still covered and Loki knew it. He was playing her nerves so easily.

"No, I think he did not break your lovely wrist, my love." The blue-eyed god teased and lowered both his hands to her hips, tugging her stomach against his and grinding; earning a whimper. "It was the monster, wasn't it?"

Not waiting for an answer, his busy hands released her and grasped her bound wrists; a cold touch of metal pressed against her inner arms and suddenly the tape holding her wrists bound was gone. She let her right hand fly, enjoying the sound of flesh against flesh as she slapped him across the face. Loki's face turned, taking the blow. His blue eyes turned cold before warming again. He exhaled through his nose before turning to her.

"I most likely deserved that, Lovey." Loki caught her arm again as she prepared a follow-up punch. "But only once."

She growled, pulling against his strong grip, wanting to pull the tape off her mouth and speak her mind. Loki didn't let her free; instead, he drew her closer and lifted her left wrist up, causing her to wince.

"I bet your wrist hurts something awful, lovey, please allow me to sooth your temper and injury." The black-haired god cooed over her left wrist and stroked it lightly. After a few seconds; coolness began to ease its way into her snapped wrist bones. Moaning in relief as Loki's fingers continued to dance coolly over her broken wrist, Jiru felt her body lose its tension and lean heavily against his chest.

"There, is that not better, my love?" His voice danced over her ears. "I assure you; I would heal your hurts rather than allow you to suffer." He reached up to the tape over her mouth and her eyes registered a soft icy blue glow before the tape cracked under frozen temperature and painlessly fell off her lips.

"Loki…why?" She picked those words after diving through a racing brain which was half-focused on healed wrist and flexed her fingers. The cooling sensation lingered on her nerves and it felt so good. "Thanks…"

"You are welcome, my love." Loki clasped her face between his hands and allowed his lips to curl into a smile as she reacted. Flinching away from his touch, the dimensional walker tried to push him away.

"Don't touch me, Loki."

"You are such a tease, pretending to be so innocent of your habits, fooling your friends into thinking you are such to be trusted." He drew her closer, running his hand through her now cerulean hair.

"Let go of me."

Loki didn't release her; instead he focused on the gauze on her face, carefully removing it to reveal the glass-induced slices on her cheek. It didn't help he offered no escape, having backed her against the wall.

"Sir, we're at the rendezvous point for Doctor Selvig." The pilot of the jet called back. She snarled at the man, knowing the poor sap was fully under Loki's control.

"Good." Loki stated, not turning away, but focused on her sluggishly bleeding slashes. "This won't sting at all, Lovey, if you hold still."

Having the choice of showing her defiance and pulling away from Loki or standing still and allowing him to use his obviously obvious healing powers on her face; she chose the latter. Her brain wasn't in any state of mind to fight. She no longer could guess Loki's intentions; he had changed that much from what she could remember. All she could think about now was the cooling sensation against the pain, the soothing ministrations of Loki's fingers as they worked the same magic on her cuts.

"Loki…why are you healing me? Aren't we enemies?"

"Oh lovey…" Loki clucked, his eyes casting themselves into mild pity. His fingers continued to run over the slices on her face, leaving cool trails of unflawed flesh behind. "I am not your enemy…"

"You stepped over that line when you stabbed Coulson."

"Who?"

"The guy with the big gun who shot you through the wall, Loki."

"For that I am truly sorry, my love, but he was in the way."

"Lame excuse, Loki. You had better choices…"

"You would say that, wouldn't you, my love?" Loki stepped back as the jet descended. "This world isn't a child's game, Lovey. People get hurt."

"Hurt? Like you just hurt me?" Jiru said, wincing at the look in his eyes at her words. "Why are your eyes blue, not green. Loki what the hell happened to you? Did the aliens brainwashed you too?"

"Sir, we've landed to pick up the portal gear." The pilot called just as the jet clunked down on some darkened ground.

Loki stared at her coldly and turned to the opening door. Jiru blinked, seeing a chance to flee, but he had been steps ahead of her and grabbed the Tesseract staff and placed it gently across her chest.

"Ah, ah, Lovey, I would hate to have to chase you when I have so much to show you…" He spoke evenly as several men came into the jet's back opening, carrying tech-stuff. Every one of them had blue, blue eyes; brainwashed.

"Ah, Miss Star, so glad to see you again!" A familiar husky voice caught her ears and a wasted looking Selvig stepped onto the lowered jet back. The man was completely crapped out, the dark bags under his eyes looked worse than Barton's. He also was wearing the same damned clothes – all of which looked dreadfully wrinkled and sporting stains – as he wore back at the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. base in New Mexico. She had to think back to remember what the older man looked like before and found it difficult to compare that face to the face which was smiling at her now. Selvig was smiling and joyous, indifferent to the scrag of salt and pepper colored hair growing from his face and chin. She winced because Selvig looked much worse than Barton did.

"Loki…let Doctor Selvig go, please." Jiru murmured as men started loading pieces of machinery on the jet.

"Ah, if only I could, Lovey." Loki moved to allow the men access to the jet's interior, letting them do their job of loading what now she figured out to be the Tesseract Portal.

"It's ok, Miss Star." Selvig spoke up as he moved woodenly and pointed to where certain pieces should be stored. "Loki's told me so much about you and your powers." Turning his vivid blue pupils at her, the obviously sleep-deprived astro-physicist beamed. "We could have used your diamond's power to help stabilize the portal."

Jiru cringed at the accusation. "It…I wouldn't have…"

"I know, Miss Star." Selvig entered her personal space and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I managed to figure out how to stabilize the tunneling affect – took me a day, give or take a few hours, but I got it. Barton had S.H.I.E.L.D. readings of your diamond shard; I would love to study it in greater detail."

The dimensional walker nearly wept at Selvig's words. He wasn't the first inquisitive mind to make that sales pitch, nor would be the last. The man wasn't even the first to be brainwashed into going after her starburst diamond in the name of science.

"Loki, we have the package you wanted." Selvig continued to move under Loki's influence as a shorter man stepped up next to the scientist. The man, wearing black and blue soldier scrubs, carried a briefcase-sized animal cage.

"Oh no…" She gasped in horror.

"Ah good." Loki spoke from behind her. "A gift for my queen, something Barton told me you wanted."

Turning around to stare at Loki, she blanched as he motioned to the pet-carrier, his blue eyes warm and calculating. "Loki…don't…please don't…"

"Ssshh, lovey, it's ok."

Turning around to face Loki's very inescapable and extremely calculated trap, she exhaled when Selvig reached into the blue plastic box and withdrew a white and black spotted puppy. It was so very fluffy and quiet, lying placidly in Selvig's arms. Jiru sighed in defeat as the puppy's cuteness drew her towards it and Selvig.

"Loki…why are you doing this? Using a puppy as a hostage?" She came in close and reached out to pat the quiet animal on the head, making it wriggle in Selvig's arms.

"Oh don't worry, Miss Star, Loki didn't hurt her, she's just trying to figure out what is going on." Selvig smiled down at her and carefully slid the fluffy thing into her arms. "We didn't steal her if that's what you were thinking."

She blinked as the brainwashed man placed the young dog in her arms and couldn't help but smile at the beast. The poor thing was young and trembling. The coloring on the pup was nearly all white except a few – three – large black patches, aligned on its broad back. The muzzle was decent and brown eyes looked through the carefully trimmed face-fur. The wet black nose twitched twice, taking in her scent and the tail wagged once.

"She's a pure-bred Bichon-Frise, and her name is…well she doesn't have a name yet." Selvig chuckled and managed to look embarrassed.

Jiru knew Loki's ploy; the insane god figured he could trap her most effectively by taunting her with another life; in this case, it was a puppy. Damn Loki.

"I thought, since you came to Earth, Lovey, it would have been lonely for a while." Loki spoke, drawing her attention to him, making her turn. This was truly the God if Mischief if he had a brain smart enough to use it in such a clever way. If Loki wasn't so psychopathic, Jiru would have congratulated him on his mischief.

"Sir, everything is onboard and ready to go." One of the blue-eyed men spoke up. Loki smiled warmly at her and turned to the six or so men.

"Good, now you may go kill yourselves."

"Yes sir." The men answered together, trotting out of the jet and towards the now visible abandoned building. There was a whited-out window van parked in front of the broken glass building; it was all very cliché in sight – dusty parking lot choked with weeds and broken pavement, the modern white walled office building sitting there, with a useless sidewalk. The men moved to the van and threw open the back door.

"Loki, NO!" Jiru cried in horror. She stood there, clutching the animal to her as the god faced her. Only she, Selvig, Loki and the jet's pilot remained in the jet.

"Oh?" His cruel eyes glared at her, a flicker from his fingers halted the men in their tracks, unmoving and statuesque. "What do you bargain for their lives, Lovey? The lives of terrible men, scum guilty of heinous acts."

Her brain raced…shocked that Loki was so cold-hearted and cruel. Bargain? What the hell did she have to bargain with? Loki didn't want her dead; otherwise he would have slit her throat or stabbed her through the heart like Coulson. Her diamond pieces were S.H.I.E.L.D. property and she didn't know jack-crap about the Tesseract.

"What…do you want, Loki?" She sighed and lowered her eyes from where they had been challenging the god. She shot a glance at the men and shivered.

"I believe you know the answer to that, my love." His silky, catty voice taunted her, motioning to Selvig to take a seat in the jet. "Do as I ask and I will spare their lives."

"I…" The young woman's eyes narrowed, her body shuffling closer to the now- unguarded exit.

Loki made no move to stop her; he only stood in the jet's tech-filled back, watching with amused eyes, like a hawk staring down at a mouse on a tiled floor. She had nowhere to go, no idea where she currently was and no sure way of knowing Loki's motives with the life of Selvig and the six men by the van. If she left, Loki would kill Selvig, the men and who-knew how many others. If she stayed, if would feel like betraying the Avengers Initiative; betraying Coulson, Tony, Bruce and Steve. Both options, in the end, would cause her emotional misery.

"I…could kill you Loki…save Selvig, grab the cube and call Stark to come and get it. I'd…"

"You'd what, lovey?" Loki clasped his hands behind his back, not at all threatened. "Prove to them you're no traitor? Show them you are completely innocent of my scheme; that you aren't so enamored to me you cry out at night for my touch? Yes, you could do that, but I think not: not when you would have my blood on your hands. What would Thor think when he discovers what you've done? I find it very likely my so-called brother would view you as a killer; a monster in human skin. What would Rogers, Barton, or Banner think…" The black-haired god stepped closer towards her with each name. "Would your vaunted hero, the so-called Man of Iron, look at you the same way, Lovey, if he knew you were a cold-blooded killer?"

Jiru choked at his words, placing a hand over her mouth and turning away from Loki as he stood over her, looming.

"Stop it, Loki. Just stop it."

"I only speak the truth, my love." She felt his hands trailing through her hair and down her back; overwhelming her nerves with arousal.

"You're a liar, a damned liar."

"Am I now? The truth hurts far more than anything I can conjure with my lies." Loki turned to the six men and raised his hand. The men lined up in a row, removed their guns and placed the barrel in their mouths.

"Oh God, NO! I…" The air quivered with tension. Selvig was sitting behind Loki, attention focused on a laptop computer, giving no sign of distress at what was about to happen. The jet pilot was dialing in commands to the control panel, waiting to take off. Loki stood there, staring not at her, but the six men about to blow their heads off.

"I submit." She whimpered, feeling her body sag. "I submit to you, Loki. Please…let them go."

"Say it, Lovey." Loki responded.

"Loki, I am your slave." Jiru burned with rage and shame, falling to her knees in front of Loki.

"Very good." Loki dropped his hand and six guns went off at the same time. The pilot – indifferent – started up the jet and the throoming rush of air roared in the empty lot.

The blood in her veins went cold, as the blood and unmentionables sprayed through the air, painting the white van red and black. The image seared into her mind, and she knew there would be massive psychological consequences later; but could do nothing to alleviate the situation as the jet lifted off the ground and Loki grasped her face in his hands. Not registering as somebody removed the animal from her arms Jiru choked twice, buried her face against Loki's chest and wept. The god crooned and wrapped himself around her, offering an empty kind of safety.


	27. Coulson Lives

_Chapter 27: Coulson Lives!_

The stars whirling about his head unmade him; then forged him anew. This was unlike anything he had ever seen…in his life. Staring upwards into infinity, his pale blue eyes were blinded thrice, each time coming back to take in the god-like scene of a black curtain painted with white, purple and yellow splashes of stars. Coulson had to use his hands to tear his sight away from the soul-rending view and ended up looking at a blue, green and white orb below his feet: Earth.

~_Oh my god._~ He thought. ~_That is Earth. My thoughts are so weak compared to the majesty below and above me. Why am I here? I…that's right: I died._~

Instantly, Coulson was watching the scene unfold; in sharp clarity in the Helicarrier detention room. He blinked as he saw himself slither up behind a hostile, gun-wielding man – Coulson knew the male, Alexander Harris, a medium-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was compromised by Loki – and knock him out. The scene played out more, as dead Coulson (that's how his brain processed what was happening) watched the living Coulson aim the gun at a threatening Loki, and feeling utter relief to see the young woman alive and in one piece.

Dead Coulson closed his eyes in shame as the staff knifed through his body and heart. The young woman saw every exacting detail, unable to prevent any of it. Dead Coulson's heart nearly stopped when he saw her face after he fell limp against the metal wall. If he wasn't already dead, Phil wanted to die again – rather than see the look of horror on her beautiful face.

Anthony Stark could go screw himself for all Coulson cared: the walking pile of sh*t calling himself Iron Man WAS NOT THERE TO SAVE HER.

"_Sir, he's going into cardiac arrest again._" A distant voice echoed into the starry darkness. Dead Coulson found himself once again in space.

~_Cardiac arrest? How can I have a heart attack when I'm already dead?_~ He thought. Then Coulson found himself in another location: the Helicarrier medical bay. Blinking in surprise as he viewed his body on a white-clothed bed, surrounded by frantic doctors and nurses, he moved out of the way as Nicolas Fury shouted orders at the medical aide hovering over the – his – inert body.

"_Well, you'd damn well better stop it from doing that, Doctor. I won't have my best agent come back to life again just to die of shock._"

Fury's statement confused Phil to no end – he was dead…wasn't he?

"_Clear!_"

His body jolted in sync with the body on the bed. Coulson understood then, that he hadn't quite 'clocked out'. Looking closer to the slab of meat on the med-bed, Phil figured it out: the condition of his body was critical, not hopeless and his heart was in one piece. On the grey silvery tray by his head, sat the reason why – Miss Star had saved his heart after it had been sliced; or more accurately, her diamond shard had. The tiny, rice-sized jewel sat in a thin splash of his blood, like it had been extracted. He figured the shard had to have either stopped the staff from impaling his heart or instantaneously healed it after Loki withdrew the staff.

Phil blinked, his eyes catching a flash of red drifting on the floor. Leaning closer to investigate, he found it was a red cord, about as thick as a pencil. Picking it up he felt the shift of scenery around him; landing him in an empty parking lot just as six men walked towards him. Not exactly understanding what was going on, his ghost (his brain would process all the appropriate details and words later) lunged into action; only to drift through the men and come face to face with Loki and…Miss Star.

The woman was rigid with terror, her eyes locked on the men behind him. Turning, Coulson understood why; the men had their guns in their mouths, about to kill themselves. A scene like that would harm the woman more than physical aggression. Coulson jumped into action, not quite sure how much or what exactly he could do while he was a ghost, but his soul burned to try anyway. Pushing his ghostly muscles into action, Phil exerted his martial arts skills and quickly disabled the six guns, kicking each out and away from the men. He was thoroughly shocked to find his efforts were rewarded with expected results. The six guns all clattered away from the suicidal men, releasing their payload – six bullets - into worthless air. The men just stood there, stunned – they couldn't see him at all.

Turning around, Phil sighed in aggravation as he saw the jet holding the young woman in the air, out of his reach. Well, at least he spared her a very nasty experience.

"_Clear!_"

Another jolt yanked him backwards; leaving Phil with a curious sight of the red cord connecting him to the young woman; what was the red cord's meaning? He didn't have time to figure that out as another yank tugged him back into his body, bringing the stinging pain of two now-minor stab wounds to his attention.

"Wha?" Coulson sobbed aloud, opening his eyes. He and his body were now melded together, which would explain the pain.

"Welcome back to the living, Agent Coulson." Fury's dark face leaned in over his. "You had me damned worried there, for a minute, Phil."

"So..-sorry Directo-"

"No, don't talk, Andrew. Just shut up and don't do anything…that's an order."

Phil attempted to smile, only to sense tubes jammed down his throat and draining his lung of fluids. He let the smile go, and relaxed his face into placidity.

"Nick…what happened?"

"God damn it, Andrew, I ordered you NOT to talk!" Fury then turned to somebody out of Phil's vision and barked out an order for a sedative. Coulson had no time for that shit; Miss Star was in serious trouble.

"Gotta…go…her…" Phil coughed out, feeling his body unresponsive.

"No, you are staying RIGHT here, Andrew. You are going to stay right here and live…"

"Tell me, is she alive?" Coulson barely acknowledged the level of Fury's anger; the Director never called him Andrew.

"Yes, she is…and so are you…" Fury stated grimly as blackness took over Coulson's sight, indicating a sleeping drug sweeping through his system. "I plan to keep it that way for both of you, damn it."

"Good…" Coulson closed his eyes and succumbed to the dark, heavy well of drugged sleep.

Beside him Fury slumped back into the chair he had been barely sitting on. The director's own heart was pounding franticly in adrenaline rush; having seen Coulson's miraculous recovery into life. It had been uncertain for a minute which way the pendulum would swing for his best agent; the affects of shock could be deadly. But Coulson pulled through and the six sworn-to-secrecy med-personnel worked on the man; sewing up the holes in Coulson's body.

The dimensional walker continued to astound Fury; with her magic tricks and death-defying powers. Why she didn't use them to save herself from Loki's grasp only perplexed him further. Surely a woman who held sway over death could find a way to escape? Fury had not the time to ponder her mysterious ways; the Helicarrier was still off line and he needed to lead the efforts in tracking down Loki and the Tesseract…and saving the damned confusing woman who had now become more than a scatter-brained nuisance. Shoving her to the back of his brain, Fury stalked out of the med room; feeling so very shitty how the future looked.


	28. Threatening

_Chapter 2__8: Threatening_

~Welcome back, Miss Star.~ J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice came from the roof as the jet landed on the white and tan gravel.

"Oh, um hi J.A.R.V.I.S." She blinked at Loki, who was gazing at her with an amused smile on his lips. The god remained undaunted by the bodiless voice which J.A.R.V.I.S. was.

Loki had her in his lap since the jet had taken off from the abandoned parking lot after picking up Selvig and Tesseract portal equipment. Her body hadn't been in any condition to retaliate, for her brain was wracking itself for answers. There had been a feeling of overwhelming horror and disgust bringing tears and body-shaking sobs; but it couldn't think of any triggers – other than being captured by Loki: which wasn't that horrible. The six men the crazy god had threatened to kill had ended up throwing their guns to the ground and driving away. She swore they had killed themselves, but they were alive enough to escape. Her thoughts were extremely messed up, which was contrary to her normal state of mind; scatterbrained.

Now, having been brought back to the now by the stopped jet, she allowed herself to be escorted outside to the roof. Selvig had scurried out after them and was busy setting up the Tesseract portal, oblivious to her and Loki. The poor man was needlessly jovial in his actions. She watched as the man opened the briefcase and removed the blue cube, via industrial strength tongs, and set it carefully on the three-pronged stand in the round metal contraption.

~I have left the roof door unlocked, since that is the only access point into the building, Miss Star.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. toned elegantly, the A.I. voice not giving any clue that it was aware of Loki-threat.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., please evacuate the building." She stated suddenly, snapping her attention to the roof's single access. Staring at Loki, her thoughts suddenly kicked into gear and became sharp. "This is a terrorist alert, because there is a mad crazy-psycho god with a portal machine on the roof." Her mouth spat out the words so very fast.

~With pleasure, Miss. Shall I inform Sir of your arrival?~ The A.I. voice asked elegantly and calmly.

"Y-." Loki's hand snaked over her mouth as he suddenly slammed her against the wall near the roof access. His blue eyes were cold and his mouth curled with anger.

"Very clever, my dove." He spat. "But it will do you no good."

_That's what you think, you crazy psycho._ Jiru thought, feeling much better. She hoped for the evacuation process would alert Tony anyway, even if Loki had stopped her from answering J.A.R.V.I.S. The less people in the building, the less civilian casualties Loki could use. Fury was absolutely right: the Tesseract emergency wasn't a game; it was time for her to suck it up and act straight. It was funny how her brain worked at times.

"Saving others will not save yourself, Lovey. You are mine and mine alone." Loki had his face inches from hers. "I know you are without your precious powers; another fatal error – giving that worthless man your diamond shard, and for what? To save his pathetic life."

"Yeah, well, welcome to my life, Loki. I'm a pussy for saving lives, unlike you, which gets a hard-on for killing people and kidnapping civilian women. You call me pathetic? I've taken down worse villains than you: you're just another point on my record."

"Wench." Loki returned her previous face-slapping favor; backhanding her hard across the face. "You dare talk to me like that!"

Having gone from squished against the wall to lying on her side on the roof's gravel from the god's slap, she extended her jaw, working out the pain from Loki's blow. "Oh yea, that's REAL mature for a psycho god; bitch-slapping me for telling the truth." Tasted blood, spat it out to see it wasn't a concern: her teeth had bit her tongue and something scraped against her gums.

"You walk on dangerous ground, my dove." The dark-haired god towered over her, stepping over her to trap her between his legs. "I told you the Tesseract is for your benefit, have I not, Lovey?"

"Yes, you did. This is me NOT believing you. You could have done that without the whole 'threatening the earth' gig. Thor figured out you're going to let the ugly Chitauri play war on earth for the Tesseract: that sounds like a megalomaniac plan to me; not a beneficial 'open the portal to travel places in attempts to find more diamond shards' plan."

Loki stared down at her and laughed easily. It gave her the shivers; both good and bad.

"I can do both, Lovey." Loki leaned down; reaching for her shirt to pull her up. "After I win the Earth, you will know the portal most intimately."

"Oh swell, I can't wait." She rolled her eyes. "Like folk around here are gonna let a crazy, alien-brainwashed Nordic god rule the Earth? Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. are going to be here any minute to kick your ass so hard, you'll be known as Loki, the God who doesn't have an ass."

The next blow threatened her vision; nearly turning it black. Maybe she should really shut up; but she was so sick of egotistical black-hearted people lusting after her powers to rule planets or just causing general massive mayhem. It was what started her dimensional trips in the first place; back in her native dimension, she had faced down a green-skinned alien woman who took part in cosmic wide death and galaxy-cide. Back then, Jiru wasn't nearly as experienced and made a terrible mistake, which resulted in tearing the very fabric of time-space. Compared to that green-skinned baddie, Loki was an ant.

"Loki, I have everything set up." Selvig's voice interrupted them. The man sounded like he didn't care Loki had been throwing punches. "It'll take a few minutes for her to warm up enough to get started."

"Good. Everything is set." Loki released her neck and lowered his hand to her waist.

"You know, it's not too late to just stop everything and turn yourself over to S.H.I.E.L.D., Loki. I'll make sure they don't kill you for being a bastard. Thor would be happy to see your war plot fall flat."

"I think not, my dove." The blue in Loki's eyes flared as he turned to her. "There is no escape."

"Go figure." Shooting one last look at a delirious Selvig, Jiru sighed as Loki tore open the roof door and proceeded to drag her inside.

XXXX

Iron Man flew through Manhattan skies with difficulty; hoping his suit wouldn't fart out and drop him into the tall skyscrapers below. It took him half an hour to buff out most of the damage the suit took when the turbine decided to start up again after he pushed it. Capsicle took his sweet time in getting to the release lever and pull it. The whole time he was fixing his suit, his nerves thrummed to just race off and rescue his Superstar – Tony swore it was the longest thirty minutes of his life.

As soon as the damaged up suit came back online: he was gone; not caring about playing 'find your buddy/group-circle/powwow' with the others. Rogers was there when Tony figured out where Loki was headed, and the Captain would bring the others…which was fine by Tony, since it meant not facing a certain soon-to-be-dead archer. Putting all that on the back burner, Stark spoke to J.A.R.V.I.S. as he neared Stark Towers.

~Sir, I've shut down the Arc Reactor.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. informed his creator. ~But the device is already self-sustaining.~

"Wonderfully not cool. Have you located Superstar?" He looked at the blue-light readings across the inside of his helmet. Scanners had finally pegged Selvig's location; a redundant effort, since the portal all of S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to stop was fully and irreversible function-able.

~Yes, sir, Miss Star arrived twenty minutes ago. She is currently on the penthouse level where you first discovered her powers. Miss Star also asked for the building to be evacuated due to a terrorist threat.~

"Told you she was a sharp cookie." Stark was impressed.

~Sir, I feel silly saying so, but there is also a puppy on the roof which I think belongs to Miss Star.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. had to get that out there, since it WAS an innocent by-stander. It was the first time ever J.A.R.V.I.S. had used the word 'puppy'. Stark blinked at the statement and smiled.

"Really now? When did this happen?"

~She arrived with it, Sir.~ JARVIS answered.

"Swell-tacular." Iron Man hummed to himself and slowed as swooped by his building, pulling upward towards the roof. In the fly-by, his scanners managed to pick up two life-forms in the said penthouse level. One female; and one male. Setting that aside, he flew up to the roof, seeing the layout before him: Doctor Selvig was standing at a table-top computer, pushing buttons and staring at the hunk of hardware which made up the Tesseract Portal. The blue cube was glowing…not good. Tony barely registered the blue animal cage by the roof door.

"Doctor, shut it down!" He ordered Selvig.

"No can do!" Selvig turned to the hovering Iron Man and answered with a goofy smile. "She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe!"

"Okay, then." The billionaire growled, firing his repulsors at the device. But the energy field generated by the Tesseract cube deflected the shot, sending the force into the air.

Stark didn't care when Selvig's body was flung near the edge of the roof, by the concussion, his head hitting the floor hard, rendering him unconscious.

~We are unable to breach the barrier, Sir.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. informed.

"Duly noted." Stark looked down to see Loki on his penthouse balcony, but no sign of Superstar. He growled, wanting to charge into, repulsors blazing and missiles flying. Instead, a streak of acute planning snuck into his head and Tony changed plans. He wouldn't fire anything if Superstar was inside the building who knew where.

"Time for Plan C. Plan B is firing at everything, but that's not going to work here."

~Sir, the Mark 7 is not ready for deployment.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. warned via wireless-connection.

"Then skip the spinning rims." Stark answered landing on the disassembly terminal. "We're on the clock here!"

~But the Starlight Suit is fully functional and ready for the Miss's use.~

"Good, have that ready to go."

Tony's nerves quivered with anticipation when he locked eyes with the crazy, Superstar-kidnapping god. Loki, opposite balcony, returned the gaze, a slight smile on his lips. Time to get the nastiness over with and rescue his Sparkling Supernova from Loki's insane clutches.

"Please, tell me you're going to appeal to my good side." Loki mocked as Stark entered the penthouse, glass doors allowing the god to enter; matching Tony step per step.

"Actually." Stark retorted, eyes darting about behind the god. "I'm going to threaten you."

"Then you should have left your armor on." Loki sneered, coming to a stop in the middle of the floor.

"Perhaps. But the suit has seen better days." Tony pointed out. In the time it took to quip dialogue, the genius assessed the situation: the young woman was in one piece, thank the gods above, and sported a few bruises on her neck and face. Tony refused to let himself get angry; bruises he didn't expect, but there they were, replacing the glass lacerations she supposedly said she had. Her wrist was no longer bound like it was broken – how the hell did she managed that? Stark figured she most likely healed it on her own: a small relief there.

None of that registered on his Surprise-O-Meter, however; what did was her apparel. She wasn't wearing her black and blue shirt, nor green jeans: it was a full-on slinky cocktail gown with slits going up the leg to her hip. Tony did a double take: the dress wasn't a cocktail dress: it was an evening dress. Dark emerald in color and shimmering gold in the light, the stunning vision danced on his retinal synapses and went right to his cock.

Superstar was a goddess in green silk and gold sequins. Two diagonal stripes of silky emerald fabric tastefully covered her breasts; which left her sternum, upper chest, shoulders and neck exposed. The sheath like bodice sat tightly around her stomach, abdomen, upper legs and knees before flaring out gently around her ankles. The slits on the sides were held by ribbons, and showed pale skin up to her hip: Superstar DID NOT HAVE ANY PANTIES ON! Nor did she have any shoes. What. The. Hell?

"Drink?" Tony somehow managed to get to the wet bar on his side of the large room. Didn't know how as his attention was full throttle on Superstar. His hands were kept busy pouring drinks and he had to snap his focus on the here and now: Loki.

The god now stood between the young woman and Stark. Not good; why did she not get up and escape? She, having her eyes on him the whole time, answered his unspoken question with a flash of handcuffs: she was chained to the couch. Tony would annihilate the couch later.

"Stalling me will do you no good." Loki remarked.

"Threatening." Stark insisted. "No drink? You sure? How about you, Superstar?"

"The Chitauri are coming. You're stalling, sorry, threatening, won't change that. Tell me, what have I to fear?" Loki stepped between the two, blocking Tony's sight of the goddess on the couch.

"The Avengers." Stark stated, nonchalantly. Loki just stared blankly at him. The billionaire continued to explain:

"That's what we call ourselves, our team. Earth's Mightiest Heroes. That type of thing." He poured his drink then.

"Oh, I've met them." Loki said with a smirk. Stark wanted to punch the smirk right off the psycho's face.

"It took a while to get us in traction, we fought a lot. I'll give you that." Stark continued. "But, let's do a headcount: your brother, the powerful God of Thunder. A Super Soldier, living legend who kinda lives up to the legend. An absolute gorgeous star-goddess; which I would very much like for you to release right now."

Loki snarled and turned away, facing the now standing young woman, who was blushing. Tony took this opportunity to slyly slip on a thin bracelet. It was something he needed for the upcoming uncertainty, if J.A.R.V.I.S. would ever deploy Tony's latest suit that is. The Man of Iron did this without missing a spoken beat.

"A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, two master assassins, and you, big fella…managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Lame plan." Stark retorted. "When they come, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk."

"I thought the beast had wandered off…"

"You're missing the point!" Stark threw his hand in the air, defiantly, coming out from behind the bar and meeting the crazy psychopath in the middle of the room. "There's no throne, no mountain, no crown. There's no version of this when you come victorious. Maybe your army comes, and maybe we can't handle it. But it's all on you. We may lose the first battle, but you'll never win the war. Doesn't matter how chaotic and messy the situation gets, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it."

"How will your friends have time for me." Loki approached threateningly, closing the distance between the two. "If they're going to be busy fighting you?"

Stark dropped his bravado with fear for a split second as Loki touched the damned staff on his chest. Clink. The staff hit the Arc Reactor with no effect. Confused, Loki tried again. Clink.

Same thing.

"This usually works…" Loki said in an almost apologetically tone.

"Well, performance issues. Happens to the best of us." Stark joked, his courage coming back to him. "You know, one in five…"

Loki grabbed Stark by the throat cutting his rant off.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.…" Stark managed to choke out. "Deploy…"

"You. Die. Now." Loki yelled throwing Stark outside the window, ninety-seven floors above the ground. It was at moments like this that Stark wished fervently that he didn't have to go through; as he felt the glass give way, sending him free falling into the whistling air. It hurt more to hear his Superstar scream in horror at seeing Loki's handy work. Stark would kill the god as soon as he got back up there.

XXX

Author's note:

Don't give up! My plans for this story don't end at the end of Avengers, although there will be shockers and surprises!

Iron Man 3 and Shield TV series are further for my ideas!


	29. Armor Up

_Chapter 29: Armor Up…_

Dimensionally Lost. It sucked; because it truly wasn't all nice and neat. Sure, some might think a dimensionally lost person would have some semblance of control over certain things – but being thrown about time/space/creation wasn't like some Doctor Who episode. Sure, one might find him/herself in a dimension so incredibly like a previous one; one might think they never left in the first place. A person might find him/herself in a dimension where time had progressed at a slower speed, slowed down to a point where events which might have happened in another dimension had yet to happen in THIS one – or a series of events which only came in the form of a blockbuster movie was reality in another plane of existence (even then, it was infinitely slim of a chance to be in a dimension which the movie events had yet to happen, but signs were there). It was so cosmically insane to try and prove the science of just how many dimensions were out there, that a person would just give up trying to explain or keep track of.

Having a power source containing thousands of galaxies; with their stars, nebulae and other galactic pieces did NOT give a single soul any type of control- or promote them to what some might find sacrilegious godhood. No…nothing like that would ever happen to a being whose power DID dictate space/space continuum. (There WERE such beings out there). When it DID happen (beings DID become unhinged from space/time continuum, although rarely) those who became lost had to learn the rules from those beings who governed time/space. A few of those rules pertained to (when boiled down) NO PARADOXI, NO Extreme Butterfly Effect (because being in another dimension was BOUND to have some consequences), No God-Playing and No Grand-Father Effect. So, as it was, those who became dimensionally lost; either went insane and died, or adapted, learned insanely difficult rules and survived. Most of them were placed back in the right space-time 'bubble' by higher beings.)

For a certain young woman, however, the cosmic rules had to be expanded: since she knew she was dimensionally lost; the search for God knew how many shards resigning her to be flung across more than one plane; and as such, had to add more rules to the cosmic list of DO-NOTS. A few of those were: Stay Alive, Keep Her Information to Herself As Often as Possible, Keep Diamond Shards Away From Natives, and Don't Get Attached.

She never adhered to the last rule; as her personality craved stability and anything to mask the hurt of leaving one's friends behind in her native dimension. She always got attached, and could only think of three times out of twenty-five dimensions she did not get attached to something or someone(s). (Those three dimensions didn't have sentient-speaking humanoid life. Plus, she was still deathly, mortally, psychically, soul-ly terrified of dinosaurs and tornados)

Getting attached hurt more than physical violence for her – it hurt every single dimension; and apparently this dimension had six massive points of attachment. The first, a shining metallic knight in armor had rescued her from a freezing death (most likely a cryogenic sleep in which her body would have waited until the native population moved it). The second and third blind-sided her at the same time; all being mixed with the first person. The fourth had followed her here, and that was troubling news, since HE came to cause mega trouble. The fifth person she was introduced to in a low-excitement environment, which helped somewhat to lessen the degree of her affection, but an attachment was made anyway. The sixth person she latched onto; like the first, third and fourth, had set fire to her nerves, indicating a level of intimacy desired.

None of them she should have ever developed feelings/affection/attachments to, but as she was only a very powerful mortal; it couldn't be helped. That all the people she had affect for were heroes and villains didn't help the situation any more. So it was bound to happen, that a show down between two of whom she liked came to pass.

XXXX

So now here she was, sitting cuffed to an elegant couch, cursing the thin plastic strand that worked in place of metal handcuffs. Jiru hoped J.A.R.V.I.S. would alert Tony because she had evacuated his building. However, the young woman WAS slightly divided in hoping Iron Man would come to her rescue, because Loki, with his slightly-kinky sick fetish of making her his queen had forced her to change into a dress she would have never picked in a hundred years. It showed way too much skin; and if Tony came blazing it and caught sight of her in it, he would be totally distracted – Iron Man couldn't afford to be distracted. Low and behold, it was as she expected: Tony Stark came blazing to the rescue, checking the roof and Tesseract first.

"You see, my dear, you will always be a second priority." Loki's voice directed itself at her as both of them watched the red and gold streak who was Iron Man jet past the wall of windows towards the roof, where Selvig was opening the portal. The war-clad god smirked at her as he motioned to the sight. "He forgoes rushing to your rescue, ignoring what should really be important."

"Screw you Loki, I've already told you mind games won't work on me. I trust Iron Man enough to get his priorities straight. I've been through plenty of shit like this before and it all works out."

"Does it really, my dove?" Loki didn't approach her, instead walked towards the left hand exit/entrance leading outside, pausing to talk back over his shoulder. "Think upon this, then, Lovey: they will betray you…every last one of them. Your vaunted hero will hurt you more than you possibly imagine; maybe not now, nor the next hour, but he will; there will come a time when he makes a choice, and it will not be you. I may unleash a war upon this world, but I will never abandon you, my dove."

Loki was gone before she could retort; but both of them knew Loki had planted doubt in her. It had taken just a few sentences, but he had divided her; in more ways than twice. By not spinning himself an overused cliché of monologue-teasing, taunting and demeaning, but going straight for the kill, the God of Mischief had sliced past her psychological defenses and nailed it.

Having successfully driven Loki away from her for a few quiet moments, Jiru exhaled tiredly and reviewed her situation: she was a prisoner of a brainwashed friend enacting dastardly schemes, sitting in the penthouse suite of a person who would most likely deliver a beat-down to said brainwashed friend. Loki had taken over the newly built Stark Tower, planning to use – she didn't know exactly how big the Arc Reactor was in order to power the gleaming white building – the self-sustaining Stark invention to power the Tesserract Portal. Loki nor Selvig had access to her diamond, and opted to use the next available source: Arc power.

It wasn't that surprising to find herself here, as Loki most likely planned it this way; taking over Tony's stuff. The god was very astute in planning ahead; probably plotted to capture her and use her access to the Tower. Her thoughts switched as she watched sharply as Tony entered the building, at the same time the god did, from the opposite balcony; one from one side, the other, from the opposite.

"Superstar, what the hell is up with your dress? I swear I have such a hard-on for you right now…" Tony spoke sternly to her as he walked behind the wet bar.

"Stalling for time will do you no good, mortal." Loki sneered as he cut off Tony's view of her. Maybe the god didn't see it, but Jiru did: Tony's step faltered twice…TWICE…as the billionaire saw her in the dress. The look of raw lust on the genius's face was slightly flattering and more than embarrassing. Point to Loki.

"But, let's do a headcount: your brother, the powerful God of Thunder. A Super Soldier, living legend who kinda lives up to the legend. An absolute gorgeous star-goddess; which I would very much like for you to release right now."

Jiru's focus snapped back on the two posturing men again when she heard 'star-goddess'. She stood up about to retort, but Loki had turned to face her, giving a sly grin and a wink.

"What the hell?" She murmured as Tony continued his rant.

"A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, two master assassins, and you, big guy…managed to piss every single one of them off."

"That was the plan." Loki now faced down Tony as the glass-carrying…what the freak was Tony doing playing casual with the vodka?

"Lame plan." Stark retorted; coming to a stop five feet from Loki in the middle of the marbled floor. "When they come, they'll come for you."

"I have an army." Loki stood tall, defiantly so.

"We have a Hulk."

"I thought the beast had wandered off…"

"You're missing the point!" Stark threw his hand in the air. "There's no throne, no mountain, no crown. There's no version of this where you come out victorious. Maybe your army comes, and maybe we can't handle it. But it's all on you. We may lose the first battle, but you'll never win the war. Doesn't matter how chaotic this gets, you can be damn sure we'll avenge it."

"Uh, nice speech and all, Stark, but why not just kick his ass and get it over with?" Jiru stood there, cuffed to the couch, listening to two hot men - both gods in her book - throw insults and threats at each other.

"I'm getting to that Superst-…" Tony began as he managed a glance over Loki's frame.

"Oh really? You're standing there in front of a crazy Tesseract-stealing god, DRINKING!"

"It's just for sho-."

"VODKA, Tony. You took off your freaking suit and poured yourself a pint of vodka while I'm over here – STOP STARING AT ME LOKI – chained to a stupid couch in a dress that is a ploy to distract you…"

"Great ploy." Tony cut in, smiling at her.

"SHUT UP STARK! JUST KICK HIS ASS ALREADY AND GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"How will he be able to do that, Lovey…" Loki growled as he closed the distance between him and Stark, the staff out and pointing right at Tony's chest. "If he's too busy doing my bidding?"

She gasped in horror as Loki took the end of the staff and pushed it against Tony's chest. Her mind took her back four days prior, in New Mexico's cave where Loki had first exited the portal and came to Earth. It had been crazy, but the image of Barton's grey-blue eyes going pitch black before turning a glowing blue was clear as crystal. Now Loki was going to do the same thing to Tony.

"Loki, NO!" She yelled. The staff tip gave a soft hum as it…clinked against Tony's chest. Tony stared into her eyes and she, into his. Nothing changed, and the tension in the large room went taut as a pulled wire. Confused at the lack of reaction, Loki tried again, pushing the staff tip to the same spot.

Same thing: nothing happened.

"This usually works…" Loki said in an almost apologetically tone.

"Well, performance issues. Happens to the best of us." Stark joked, exhaling a breath he had been holding due to her shout. "You know, one in five…" Loki grabbed Stark by the throat, cutting the billionaire's rant off.

"You will die now." Loki's voice was so stubbornly sharp. Jiru screamed as Loki lifted Stark and hurled the man towards the wall of windows.

That moment stretched into infinity. The crash, then musical tinkling of glass on marble floor, the grunt of a human body behind thrown to its death; the shuffle of clothes, the now unrestrained wind blowing into the high-level opening…the sound of horrible screaming, followed by a choking sob. Loki turning, glaring at her with sadness in his unnatural blue eyes, tainted with a malicious smirk.

Less than a second later, a blurred bulk of red metal rocketed past both her and Loki, most likely coming from the walls behind and bulleted out the same hole in the window wall. Jiru gasped and held her breath, tensing her body and leaning forward in morbid anticipation, praying…hoping.

Mere seconds later, Iron Man rose from below, safe and repulsors blazing. How Tony managed to suit in up free-fall boggled her scattered mind. She was immensely relieved to see him alive.

"There's one more person you pissed off." Stark shouted at Loki, firing his repulsors at the stunned god. "His name was Phil."

The plasma blast sent Loki flying backwards into the wall, and well away from her. Stark…the golden mask of Iron Man then turned to her as the rest of the suit ducked into the room.

"Hey, sorry about the scare, Superstar. But I had everything under control." The metallic voice aimed at her. She was sitting on the couch, breathless from the heart-stopping scare. Sure she was a dimensional walker, but that didn't spare her the reactions of seeing people thrown to their deaths.

"Fuck you, Tony. Just…oh my god…" the teal-haired woman sputtered out. "Don't ever do that again."

"Well, I can't promise exactly that, if you want me to fuck you after scaring the snot out of you." Iron Man landed with a clunk in front of her, and the face plate slid up. "Because I want to run you through like a…"

~Sir, I suggest now isn't the best of times to impress Miss Star with your bed-talk.~ J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice interrupted. ~The Tesseract portal is scheduled to open any minute.~

"Go hack the Pentagon, JARVIS; I'm in the middle of something." Tony responded with a straight face. Jiru couldn't help but stifle a laugh. Tony smiled, nearly killing her heart once more. He loved hearing her laugh.

~Sir, may I suggest that you…~

"I'm enjoying a moment here, JARVIS." Stark's metal-encased hands came up and placed themselves on her bare shoulders. "Superstar, are you…did he rape you?"

"Uh, wow…what a…no…nobody raped me." She blinked owlishly at the question, looking up into seriously freaked out eyes.

"Good." Stark visibly relaxed. "Now, how about a kiss for saving you, huh, Sparkles? You're a vision in that dress."

~Sir…~ JARVIS chimed in again.

"Oh what the hell, Tony, why not. You've already kicked my last steel nerve, why not immolate me with sex talk too."

The man smiled and tilted his head, looked pleased with himself. "Awesome. Totally, on the lips please."

His dimensional walker, snorted in strained amusement and complied; picturing the scene as epic, block-buster worthy. She – still restrained to the couch – stretched upwards to kiss Tony on the lips. The jerk had the nerve to wrap his armored arms around her, dip her low and use tongue. She; being ever so prude and squeamish, tried to pull away as Tony's tongue pushed past her lips. Tony didn't let her escape, chuckling into her mouth as he deepened his kiss.

~Sir, if I may interject, I believe at some point the Miss will need to breath.~

"Uh, not really, I bet she can kiss me under the damned table." Iron Man broke away first, setting the dimensional walker upright and beaming his idiotic smile at her.

"Tony…"

"Nope, don't think so, little Miss Dazed." Iron Man's Superstar was dazed from his kiss, bringing a hand up to her lips in a way that sent heat shivers down Stark's back. He thoroughly enjoyed it and made a show of running his tongue over his teeth, as if seeking out more of her taste. "Superstar, you taste like the stars themselves."

"You're so stupid…" Her wide eyes bore into his.

"Nope, wrong again…" He laughed.

That next moment, the bone-deep throom of the Tesseract Portal announced itself as the Cube tore open a rift well above the Stark Tower. The shudder passed through the building, and they both felt it through their feet. A screeching howl followed next; as God only knew what came through the portal.

"Oh, right." Iron Man nodded to her as they looked at the ceiling, like it would show them the sky. The ceiling only blocked the view. "Alien Army."

XXXX

Next up: Avengers Assemble!

In which Starlight makes her début, pity is shown, reunions are strained, shots are fired and aliens die…just plain epic-ness.

XXX

Author's note:

I am slowly getting this done, and want to just go ahead and say: The underdog gets the woman…if you can guess who that is, swell, but it's a tangled love square for those involved…

I thrive on comments and reviews, thanks to all who read, review, follow and enjoy!


	30. Avengers

_Chapter 30: Avengers…_

"Well duh." Jiru shook her head, clearing the daze from her mind. Tony's kiss was absolutely mind-blowing; stunning her already flustered mind.

"Superstar, don't climax yet, although the foreplay is quite and well over." Iron Man's face plate slid back down into place. "The main course is just now happening."

"What the hell are you talking about, Tony? I'm…"

"So very confused and mind-blown by my kiss, I know." He answered and stepped back. "Hold still for a moment, please. I'm going to free you."

After quickly eyeing the blue and white digital read-outs of her person, the armored genius brought up a hand and fired a thin lazer of intense heat, cutting the plastic strap holding her to the couch.

"Ok, cool, thanks. Now what?" She snapped her left hand away, even though the laser had come nowhere close to hurting her.

"Now, you suit up like me, babe, and go kick alien ass. J.A.R.V.I.S., deploy the Starlight Suit…now."

The same sound which accompanied the red bulky suit a minute before sounded out again behind her, and Tony stopped her from turning around as metallic pieces of another Iron Man suit paffed onto her back side and began en-shelling her.

"Arms out, Sparkles, that's awesome." Tony released his grip on her as the suit quickly grew over her shoulders and arms. She tossed her arms out, allowing the nano-guided system to wrap around her limbs. Iron Man enjoyed the look of awed surprise on his woman as the blue and gold smaller feminine suit engulfed her. The flipped star face plate was the last thing to shunt into its braces with a ting and completely enshrined his Star-Goddess.

"Great, now let's fly."

XXX

Jiru gasped with a squeak as the warm padding soothed around her body. She thought it would be cold metal, but Tony was a genius after all, and had thought of including a padded suit inside the armor. Throwing her arms out as per Tony's suggestion, she held still as the pieces of nano-technology covered her body up, clicking out to connect to other extending pieces. The process exhilarated her nerves, making her feel special and empowered. Lifting each leg as the boots expanded over her feet to complete the specialized armor Tony had built for her…FOR HER, Jiru smiled uncontrollably as the thought sunk in. SHE WAS IRON WOMAN.

"Nope, you're not Iron Woman; you're Iron Starlight, Superstar." Tony read the look on her face and corrected it. "Iron Woman is so cliché, and you hate cliché, babe. You are now Iron Starlight."

"Wow, just wow." She talked now over the suit's techno-advanced communication system. Blinking when the star-shaped face plate hissed down covering her face and blooming with hologramic…stuff…Jiru's brain focused on teaching her how to deal with the high-end tech.

"How the heck do you read this stuff, it's all numbers…" Her voice quivered in panicked learning. Iron Man was already outside the building again, jetting with boot rockets.

"I know it's all new, Sparkles, so you'll have to learn on the fly."

"My suit, it's blue and gold, I thought it was grape-purple? HOW IS MY DIAMOND IN THE SUIT ALREADY!?"

Indeed, she now sensed the familiar tingle of her diamond running through her skin; and peered down as best she could to the circular chest piece, finding the diamond disc inserted and running to power the suit.

"Ah, I…pressed it onto your chest while you were…WE were kissing…" Tony started to explain.

"Confusing, don't tell me…I just want to know…is Phil Alive!?"

"Ah, well, um." Somebody was avoiding the question. "Oh look, aliens…let's go save the world, Superstar." And Iron Man was gone, blasting through the air, up towards the portal and firing missiles.

~Welcome, Miss Star, to the Iron Starlight, Mark V.~ JARVIS's voice came gently into her ears. ~I apologize for not releasing the grape and gold model, but it wasn't ready.~

"Mark Five, what the heck is the grape model then?" She tromped to the edge of the penthouse floor, looking down at the open space of Manhattan, slightly intimidated at the height.

~The grape-colored model is Mark VI. The paint is still curing.~ The A.I. responded; sounding a little confused.

"My little star…" A voice came behind her. Turning, she thought, would confuse her even more. She turned anyway. Loki was there, looking slightly unpolished; but he standing anyway. The crazy god made no move to subdue her, nor to strike to inspire her fear. The black-haired man just looked calmly at her, and pouted. Her heart twitched at the faux-vulnerable look on his face; wanting to go over and comfort him.

"You resign yourself to live in his shadow?" Loki spat out; meaning the armor she wore. "You can be so much more."

"Well, excuse me if I have to clean YOUR mess up, mister." She answered, relaxed as he finally smiled, albeit thinly. "You think I can be 'so much more' if I sit back and do jack-shit while people are dying out there?"

~Superstar, get your sexy butt out here, I need your help.~ Tony's voice came through her suit's com. ~You aren't out here yet, what's the hang-up?~

~I'll be out in a minute, Stark. I'm learning how to work this thing. Go…rescue the puppy or something…please?~

"My dove, I beg you; stay." Loki's voice wasn't his own and the inflection made her narrow her armored eyes at him.

"Who the hell are you? What have you done with Loki? He never calls me dove; it's ALWAYS Lovey."

The look which took over Loki's face was so unnerving and murderous; it made her take a step back. The lips curled back to show off the white teeth – teeth that were pointed and serrated. The blue eyes narrowed into slits; radiating pure lust, hatred and maliciousness.

"~My Starchild, you know who I am.~" Loki's voice was completely changed now, into something rough and alienistic. "~You think yourself below these insects; in truth you are not. The Chitauri are a mere distraction from my real plan. Loki thought he could hide you from me; it was amusing to play along. The little Jotun thought he would wrest the Tesseract from my control, using it for something so trivial as assisting you in finding that which you've lost.~"

"Ok, I'm going to blast your ugly face to hell; mister alien overlord. Let Loki go." Iron Starlight lifted her blue hands and fired up the repulsors and threatened. "You can't do jack shit on Earth with your ugly-ass Chitauri, the Avengers WILL win because they've got me."

"~Indeed, little Starchild. Finally showing her true blood.~" The scary alien voice's chuckle nearly froze her blood. "~Then you shall die first.~"

Whoever – whatever – had taken over Loki's body lifted the Tesseract staff at her and fired; no pauses, no gloating, no warning. It was so fast a movement she would have received a mortal wound to her torso had she not had on the Starlight Armor. The armor's A.I. reflexes kicked in and rocketed her out of the room, into the air over Manhattan and away from the Tesseract blast.

~Oh hay, look who is it, Starlight.~ Tony's voice sounded playful. ~You decided to come out and play. It's about time.~

"Yea, I was breaking up with Loki there, sorry." Jiru panted; getting over the thrill of being in the air in nothing much but the Starlight armor – so much for deliberating over taking that first plunging step. Looking down as Loki slithered out onto the higher balcony, Starlight met Loki's – who was now back to being Loki – eyes and sighed. It had all gone to shit; she knew something was controlling Loki: wanted to believe it was just some crazy Chitauri which she could find and defeat. Now; she wasn't at all sure of what had hold of Loki; nor how to break that hold.

Loki looked up at her with a pained visage and frowned. Jiru couldn't stay there any longer; she had HIS mess to clean up because, yes, the Tesseract portal DID open and yes the ugly war-lusting Chitauri pouring out of it was clearly too much for just one Iron suit. Turning her helmet up towards the sky, she resigned herself to dive in.

XXX

"Ok I think I got a handle on this now, Tony, it's just like a video game, only real." She finally spoke up after flying around and shooting aliens for a few minutes. Her first twenty shots went wild, and just zapped away in the air; she blamed her lack of flight finesse, trying to get the feel for the boot rockets and get over her crazy fear of having her feet burned off. If Tony was using boot rockets without harm, she could too.

"Well, yea, of course it is; Superstar." He responded as the streak of blue joined him in the sky. "Ah, I see J.A.R.V.I.S. gave you the blue suit. Blue is a great color on you."

~Yes, Sir, I deemed it necessary to release the blue model instead of the grape model. My analysis predictions found it better for the Miss to be wearing the blue model.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. toned in with a confusing comment.

"Well…" Now Tony sounded concerned by J.A.R.V.I.S.'s left-field announcement. "Jarvis, are you feeling ok?"

~No Sir, I am not.~ The A.I. responded. ~It seems I am currently receiving an upgrade interface because the Starburst Diamond has deemed it funny to mess with my programming. Also, the Tesseract energy is interfering with my diagnostics, but it seems the starlight diamond is trying to assist in providing a buffer to better my performance. I am unsure if I should lock out the diamond's attempts on upgrading…~

"Superstar…what the hell is Jarvis going on about." Iron Man was busy darting through the air, shooting aliens as they came through the portal.

"I think…" Jiru paused in thought, as she tried vainly to function on the same battle-alert status Tony was in. Something kicked in on her suit and the Starlight Suit went on auto-pilot. "I think my diamond shard wants to come out and play."

"Huh." Stark sounded rather dumb-founded because the suit he built for her suddenly had freezing capabilities. The closest Chitauri aliens suddenly were engulfed in blocks of ice; which was highly impressive because the ice gave no mercy in leaving anything exposed. The cryrogenzied aliens dropped like heavy boulders. "I know I did NOT build that into the suit, Sparkles…since when did you acquire…"

"Well, whatta know, welcome to the world of Randomosity." Jiru growled out. "Now's not the time to be freaking out about ice shots or J.A.R.V.I.S. acting weird, Tony, you've got aliens firing on your ass. Do a barrel roll!"

The two iron-suited Avengers then parted ways, since Tony ducked down low and behind a building. Starlight spiraled up towards the portal, learning the suit's function as best she could while on the fly. Her attention was divided in parts: one part trying to keep up with the fast-showing hologramic readings flitting across her mask's inner side, while firing at aliens with missiles, lasers and apparently beams that shot out liquid ice; all as she twisted and dodged the returning fire.

~Miss Star, may I suggest something.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. intoned at her. ~If you can use your new-found cryo-lasers and somehow freeze over the portal…~

"Nope, it won't work, J.A.R.V.I.S., sorry to tell you, but, without being as smart as you, I can already tell the ice won't hold on Tesseract energy. The edges of the portal are too volatile to catch the ice. The best I could do is block the hole for a minute; two tops. I don't see how that would help in the long run."

~Very astute, Miss Star. You are indeed correct.~ The A.I. agreed with her. ~Your Starburst diamond is very insistent on upgrading my systems. I am completely unsure of how to proceed. Sir doesn't know your diamond as well as you do; and we both admit we are perplexed at the situation.~

"Well, I don't blame either of you." Jiru answered, allowing her suit to fall back away from the portal and down into the obstacle course Manhattan provided, all the while firing her new-found ice-lasers. "Can you tell me what exactly my diamond is trying to do?"

~I believe it is trying to give me a god-mode setting.~ JARVIS's concerned answer drew a bark of laughter from her. ~It wants to amplify my awareness in this situation. I am afraid it wants to make my systems easier for you to understand and use.~

"God-mode? Really, oh shit…" Her plate was full (as was her brain in its pale attempts in being as suave and razor sharp as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Stark) as several things demanded her attention: mostly how to avoid being shot at by aliens while taking them out in return – it was almost like a fighter game. Shoot down the baddies while avoiding returning damage; the scenario was better left in the games. The alien shot impacts HURT even with the armor on; and just as scary.

XXX

"Stark, we're on your three, heading northeast." Romanov's voice came through the radio timeless minutes later; Jarvis said it had only been eight minutes since the portal opened.

"What took you so long?" Iron Man's voice answered back. It was reassuring to hear his voice even if it had been five minutes prior. "Did you go to the drive-thru?"

~Sir, Miss,~ J.A.R.V.I.S. informed over the now shared radio. ~There are more incoming. My upgraded systems can now track the alien's unique DNA structure. I am running a program that will mark targets and keep a numeral count and whereabouts of individual aliens.~

"Right, let's keep them occupied." Stark answered plainly, not knowing how to respond to JARVIS's new application. "Make a note later for me to study all the affects the Starburst diamond has on your programming, J.A.R.V.I.S."

~Very good Sir.~ the A.I. sounded very agreeing.

"Tony…how long are we supposed to be doing this!?" She sounded flustered and grimaced. "By the way, don't blame me for J.A.R.V.I.S.'s God-mode, Tony…my diamond has a mind of its own."

"Supernova, not blaming; just…having trouble adjusting…"

Having just gotten the hang of shooting down alien speed-whatchamacallits, she cursed as a huge whale-worm-dragon-serpent armored up to its alien cells came careening through the portal.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS!?" She screamed through the com; flying away instead of shooting it. She'd most likely have nightmares about huge-aliens the size of TEN earth whales coming at her to swallow her up.

"Stark…a-are you seeing this?" Roger's voice crackled over the connection. Well, Black Widow and Captain America joined the melee, but where?

"Seeing? Yes. Believing? Not sure." Stark answered. "Where's Banner? He with you?"

"Banner? No." Rogers answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Just a hunch; keep me posted. J.A.R.V.I.S., find a weak spot on that thing."

~Already working on it, Sir.~ The A.I. responded.


	31. Assemble!

_Chapter 31: Assemble!_

It had been a long, long week; a long slow week other than the huge media sensation Peter Parker managed to photo-capture on Monday. The subject he had been trailing for three days prior had been very elusive; but had made headlines worldwide nonetheless. From his brief meeting with the interesting female, Parker gleamed she didn't have a clue. Of course, anything having to do with the billionaire Anthony Stark was bound to be big; and rumors of him having a new woman was big. It didn't help that she appear out of nowhere, but her history was practically nonexistent.

Peter had somehow managed to literally bump into her one late afternoon, and politely asked for a few photographs of her with her friend; somebody she called Birdie. Parker figured the man to be a bodyguard or something; judging on the sharp-brained movements Peter recognized as elite training. The man was hesitant to let anything happen, but when the young woman heard Peter's name she practically freaked Parker out by gushing over him. It was weird on how she was so friendly with him; having just met, but couldn't explain past that it was such an honor to meet him. It was almost like the woman was tripping over her words, trying to keep a great big secret.

The young woman, Jiru, jumped on the invite when Parker extended it; asking her for a bit of her time for an exclusive Daily Bugle interview. Parker, still reeling from the woman's bubbly randomness, took her and 'Birdie' to a local coffee shop; surprising her when he beat off other reporters and paparazzi. It helped when Birdie jumped in to assist. There was definitely a close-knit bond between the two and that was a few of the first questions Parker asked; Was she dating Anthony Stark or this guy?

Her answers, surprisingly enough, were censored by her 'bodyguard'. That wasn't to say Parker got lied to; the young woman answered everything truthfully enough, and them some; but the volume and content of her answers boggled Peter's mind.

Apparently, Iron Man had rescued her from a freezing death and became enamored to her and she, him. The billionaire had taken it upon himself to bring her to the United States, set her up under his wing and work at the newly built Stark Towers. Peter was completely fascinated by her rhythm and snapped pictures of her face nearly every time its features changed. Parker had to reign himself in when she, point blank, told him to stop: he was freaking her out. The photographer/reporter found it slightly amusing to finally return the favor of freaking-out.

Her bodyguard, Clint Birdie, informed both of them to either censor what was to be published; or limit the truthfulness of answers. Peter knew he had stumbled onto something far greater than first imagined, and found the necessity of editing what he wrote. The young woman was seemingly autistic and ran her mouth way too much. She was a treasure trove of oddity and Parker vowed to himself to limit both pictures and the interview in order to protect her.

Miss Jiru (who had yet to reveal her surname, Parker found that different) managed to catch him off guard with her 'spider' comment; asking if he had ever been bitten by spiders. His guards had slammed up and Parker distanced himself from her. He did answer truthfully; since the question was so simple, yet dangerous; that he, like most people, didn't find it at all odd that spiders sometimes bite people, and he most likely must have been bitten at one point in time or another. Arachnid population in Manhattan numbered in the millions, so it was bound to happen.

Her next questions solidified his distrust: Did he experience any life-changing events at any point in his life? – some people did; like her and Tony Stark. The young woman KNEW about him being Spiderman; there was no other way about it. It was like she peered into his brain and discovered everything he hid. She was trying to delicately probe the subject; without just coming out and ASKING if he was Spidey.

Parker did answer he had experienced a life-changing event; and went on to joke that being hired by Jamie Johnson was enough to change anybody's life. His answers did throw the young woman; sending a moue of doubt across her face; like she was let down or something. Parker wasn't about to clarify her of her doubt; keeping the fact he WAS Spidey to himself. Just how the woman knew, Peter couldn't figure out. He never seen her before; and would assuredly remember any woman with turquoise hair.

The trio split after Jiru wanted to see him again; Peter was all for that because all he could take away from the impromptu interview was bit-piece info like her favorite things (color, food, habits, animals) and how she was connected to the billionaire – Birdie and her deemed it safe enough to let the world that Iron Man had saved her life; and the billionaire was most likely obsessed over her crazy colored hair – which was natural, a mutation so trivial in a world full of other crazy things like Iron Men, and indeed, mutants.

So now, after spending the rest of the week recovering from the after math of turning in his sparingly-selected photographs and censored interview to the Daily Bugle, Parker found himself, once again, in the little café where he first met the intriguing young woman: the place square in front of the Stark Towers. He didn't know what he was expecting – it would be a 1 to million shot of running into her again – but he got that tingling feeling of impending doom; Peter Parker craned his head upward. Somebody was falling to their death from insane heights.

People around him started to panic, pointing and screaming. Peter absent-mindedly snapped photos as naturally as breathing; it was spectacular as pieces of red and gold armor shot down towards the falling man; engulfing him in armor. It was none other than Iron Man. The billionaire was clearly insane for the stunt; who in their right mind would throw himself from ninety-three stories up only to trust in technology to blaze to the rescue?! Indeed, if it WAS a stunt? What else could it possibly be? The man was saved from a falling death, as the A.I. guided armor engaged the boot rockets, sending the man – now fully armored – back up into the sky.

His spider sense still tingled through his mind; alerting Peter the danger wasn't over. He changed into focus, bringing his head down and looking for an opportune place to change into the Friendly Neighborhood Spidey. By the time it took to do as such; his Spidey-sense proved correct once again – he never doubted, just always had to figure out why – as a huge blue beam throomed into being as it shot up from the Stark Tower. Spiderman figured whatever stunt the Billionaire was pulling; this wasn't a part of. Some…things started pouring out of the huge gaping black-holed portal high in the sky; aliens…god; it had to be aliens. Was the cyan-haired woman connected to any of what was happening? Peter rather hoped not; she was kinda cute and personable; she couldn't be responsible for the aliens pouring out of the portal.

Spiderman would do his best to help the citizens of Manhattan as the aliens began firing on anything and everything.

XXX

The Starlight suit was now ninety-nine percent second nature to her and was zipping in and out of the semi-packed airspace making up the city's middle layer. It was crazy and chaos on the streets; nearly all of what she saw through the armor's mask was decimation; fires, ruined streets, cars, buildings, floating papers; she could write a book about the devastation she viewed. The people, every single one of them were running haywire, screaming and dashing about.

"Stark, y'all increase your points over there, I'm ahead by at least a hundred."

"Smart ass…" Iron Man answered back. "Unlike you, I'm still getting the hang of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s god-mode here, Supernova, so pardon me if I'm not at my best."

Whatever her snark back was going to be was cut short as something very heavy slammed onto her back and sent her flight pattern into the ground.

"OH SHIT!"

~Miss Star, I believe that was Loki.~ JARVIS's voice announced to her as she flailed in the air, falling towards the street at high speeds. She landed with a crunch, in front of Stark Tower and surrounded by familiar faces.

"Well, this all seems very horrible." That voice entered her ears, and she smiled.

Jiru craned her sight backwards, since her suit was firmly stuck into the pavement – ensconced within a crater. It wouldn't quite budge enough to remove itself from being hammered into the ground. It must have been an amusing sight; with two master assassins and Captain America at her feet, and Doctor Bruce Banner stepping off somebody's stolen/borrowed/taken mo-ped coming to stand over her. Thor was off to her left, looking down at her with a tired, haggard look on his face.

"PLEASE tell me you recorded that sound, I can only imagine it was really, really epic." She half-growled, half laughed out. Banner gave an apologetic smile.

"I've seen worse." Natasha commented.

"I'm sorry." Bruce looked at the Black Widow.

"Oh hi there, Brucie…" Jiru laughed freely, the adrenaline rushing through her system. "Oh look, is that my left shoulder rocket over there; Brucie, please be a dear and fetch it for me. My diamond just might nano-fuse it back to the suit…"

"No, that's ok…we could do with worse…" The other woman stated evenly; trying to figure out just where the suited woman was coming from. Her speech pattern was highly irregular; Natasha wrote her off as suffering from a mixture of exhaustion, stress, insanity and adrenaline.

"Stark?" Steve Rogers, from what Jiru could see by lifting her head up, spoke through the radio. "Banner's here…"

"Banner?"

"Like you said." Captain nodded.

"Good, tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you…" Stark's voice never sounded so good to Jiru.

"Hey, Chirpie." Another voice entered the fray and Jiru groaned, letting her armored head drop back to the ground with a thunk. But Barton appeared in her sight anyway, crouching down to tap on her faceplate with the broken off back-rocket. "It's good to see you're still alive."

"Yea, no thanks to you, pisser. I still feel you hitting me." She regretted her comment as soon as it was said.

"Supernova!? What the hell? Did that little f*ck beat you?" Stark's absolutely enraged voice asked. Iron Man sounded like he was going to kill Barton.

"Geez, he only hit me three times…" She spat out; too tired to care about discreetness or diplomacy. "I think it was three times."

"Stark…leave it." Rogers growled warningly. The rest of his words were lost as the rumbling massive mayhem in the form of an alien leviathan appeared from the corner of a building six or seven blocks away. It was chasing Iron Man – her Starlight suit picked that much up from its half-buried position- even upside-down; which was her current view setting.

"I-I don't see how that's a party…" Romanov stuttered.

"I concur." Jiru agreed, feeling mild panic setting in. She was stuck in the pavement and Iron Man was leading…the massive scary thing towards them. "I don't know about y'all but I'm starting to hyperventilate here; that is one titanic mutha-f*cker coming straight at us."

No-one said anything.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Jiru answered herself grimly.

"Banner?" Captain jumped to her side, while talking to Banner. "Now would be a good time for you to get angry…"

"That's my secret, Captain." Banner gave her one last glance before turning and walking TOWARDS the behemoth. Starlight swore she saw his eyes flicker green. "I'm always angry."

In a singular second; the dour, shy Banner transformed into a beast three times his normal size…and so very green. Jiru gurgled in awe as none other than THE HULK brought himself to being in broad daylight.

"Ok, I think I just fan-gasmed here. It's THEE Hulk. How awesome is that! J.A.R.V.I.S., please tell me you recorded that." She giggled.

~I have been recording everything since your suit came online, Miss Star.~

Her J.A.R.V.I.S. enhanced vision recorded every nano-second of Banner's awesomeness: from the way his muscles rippled like a pond, expanding into unbelievable ripped musculature, to the way pale tan flesh chameleoned into gamma-ray green, to the way his clothes were literally shredded by the increased muscle and body mass – it was all pure muscle, no fat; Jiru didn't imagine clothes could actually be shredded like that just by burgeoning muscles – to the way, miraculously his pant stayed on. Banner's Hulk-out was something that would forever be seared, imprinted on her retinas and soul. She would never forget: the only way it could ever be trumped, was if she witnessed it from the front.

"OMG! I just fangasmed again!"

The Hulk bound forward ten steps in one leap and, having cocked his right arm back, launched a green fist forward to smash into the now too-close-for-comfort alien leviathan's ugly face. The un-measurably huge titan stopped; having met something it couldn't budge: The Hulk was immovable, only skidding back two inches whereas the leviathan's own momentum sent the rest of its body careening into the only place it had available: up and over the Hulk force.

"Superstar, don't cream yourself yet." Iron Man's voice answered her back. "Tank missile!"

Iron Man saved her bacon – as well as the rest of the Avengers' – by analyzing the impending crushing doom by leviathan body, and sending it exploding before it could fall upon them.

"Nice shot, friend Stark." Thor said as he reached down to yank her out of her concrete imprisonment. She popped to her metal booted feet and yelped.

"I druther stay down there, thank you very much."

The sight awaiting her wasn't at all pleasant or encouraging: The buildings around their position were thick with ugly alien forces; clinging to the sides like lichen; a very bad war-mongering lichen. The Chitauri stare incredulously at the wreckage of what was once a moving leviathan, their increasingly angry screams and guttural cries focused at the Avengers; the seven on the ground moving into a loose circle, their backs turned inward.

Starlight squeaks as the Hulk, stationed on her right side; answered them back; just as vocally and just as loud. To her left, Barton had drawn in close to her, aiming a loaded bow up towards the buildings; unable to pick a target. On Barton's left the Black Widow mirrored the movements of her partner; pointing no-doubt deadly guns up, Thor covered Natasha's left as Captain America stood firmly on Thor's left; directly behind Starlight's back. Iron Man closed the circle up as he finally landed and used his A.I. to start scanning the surrounding area.

It was a deadly circle of Avengers, and Jiru shivered at the feeling as she finally realized she was one of them.

XXX

Above, on a Chitauri war-vehicle, Loki watched the scene with anger in his eyes and a sneer of distaste on his lips.

"Send the rest!" He ordered and more leviathans and Chitauri pass through the portal. "Kill them all."

XXX

Next up: Decisions are made, bombs are fired and shit hits the fan.

Iron Man doesn't choose Starlight; as Loki said he wouldn't.

Author's note:

Also, Spiderman because I can.


	32. Avengers VS Aliens

_Chapter 32: Avengers VS. Aliens_

Director Fury's mind was divided; by a young woman and by an alien war happening in Manhattan. Having come from the locked down medical room where Agent Coulson was being counted alive in, he was frazzled. However, since Fury was a sharp minded – hell, he was THE Spy – the man could multitask. This was what he was doing; working his mind on a problem the dimensional walker had presented him with.

Not to say he wasn't grateful for her actions – she did save the life of Fury's best agent – but now it was a matter of protecting her from the ripple effect: if word got out that she had god-like powers which pulled people back from the brink of death, everyone and their gang would be gunning after her. That would be unfavorable in Fury's plan, and would most likely sit unwell with the woman. Fury did so want to keep the young alien female moderately safe and happy; otherwise he would possibly have someone more destructive than the Hulk. There had yet to be invented a stop-gap for neutralizing that power other than keeping the subject safe and happy – catering to whims.

That oh-so fragile maneuver of keeping her safe and happy was threatened in the past week; but he was relieved and mildly surprised to get a measure of how well the young dimensional walker coped with events. He almost felt sorry for her – almost.

The Director would have shunted her off to the side, backburner or some remote SHIELD-protected location; had she not been in the thick of things even before the whole damned Tesseract War started. Even if she still had been there when Loki came out of the portal; Fury would have stuck her in a safe place. Then Loki had to open his damn mouth and tell Fury he was very interested in the young woman – even though the young woman wasn't the only female on the premises. Fury finally got around to interrogating the woman and found out, from reading her body language, that she knew Loki. That was bad. It was just problems piled on problems; something he DIDN'T want to deal with; but had to. Nick classified her information to Level 7, and discreetly destroyed all other sources holding anything about her. Now S.H.I.E.L.D. and Stark were the only servers to hold anything about her.

Nick Fury made a decision to change that; upping her classification to Level 8 – only him and seven others had Level 8 clearance; Coulson nor Hill among them. By placing her at such a level meant her information had to vanish; anything linking her or having her name on it had to be destroyed and incinerated: including electronic files. This meant nothing was to be spared; not secreted back-ups nor the main files: everything had to be resigned to the brain – thus only eight agents had Level 8 clearance.

Fury made the call: he would put Miss Star in L8 clearance and decide what to do about her personal connections later. Moving his fingers over his computer screen; the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director pulled up a picture of Miss Star and sent it to his Level 8 undercover agent on the bridge. The man was of Egyptian descent and was already well established with Level 7. Agent Wingfoot was a dorky sort of man, but Fury himself had trained the man into the act. Bald and free with friendly jokes and quick with electronic technology; the man was the one to turn to in order to eliminate any and all electronic files pertaining to the picture Fury sent. Wingfoot, in turn would alert the six other agents about the orders and they would shadow into action in erasing all evidence of the person. Fury's hand hovered over the command which would start the Smoke Act; his mind torn of doing it or not – it was a rather damning process and only twice before had it been needed. He sent it, sighing.

"Director Fury…" Agent Hill's voice came just as he sent the Smoke Act orders. Fury didn't need to see if Agent Wingfoot got up and left; he just knew. The orders would be enacted immediately and even the electronic order would be erased: Project X.I.N would be gone. "The Council is on the line."

"Damn."

XXX

_Manhattan:_

A guttural, snarling noise erupted from Starlight and Iron Man turned to his Superstar. She sounded like the aliens on the buildings.

"What the hell was that!?" Stark asked as his suit told him she was speaking – SPEAKING – in the Chitauri language.

"I-uh…talked smack to the ugly aliens?" Jiru sounded guilty and bashful.

"Agent Chirpie, you really need to not do that; it didn't help things." Romanov suggested tersely as all the Avengers craned their heads upwards to see hundreds more aliens and three leviathans come pouring out the portal.

"Uh, sorry?"

"What did you say, Superstar? I'm curious." That was Stark speaking.

"I slurred their honor and their hive; calling it the….I basically insulted their origin of birth; telling them they all are space faggots."

"Hm, fascinating."

"Your call, Captain." Barton spoke up as the rest of them turned to Captain America. The archer had finished slamming the broken back-mounted jet onto her suit and held it for a few seconds, allowing whatever power she had to fuse it back on.

"Right, listen up." Steve Rogers started, looking everyone in the eye. "Until we can close the portal, we need containment. Barton, I want you on top, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you get the perimeter, anything gets more than three blocks out, turn it back, or you turn it to ash!"

"Can you give me a lift?" Barton turned to Stark.

"Not only no, but HELL no." Iron Man growled out.

"Do it, Stark, I'll offer an exclusive on my body for a week." Starlight snapped out. Now wasn't the time for Stark to be belligerent about Barton having beat her earlier. Teamwork was most needed at the moment.

"A year." Stark responded.

"A month…" Jiru counteroffered.

"Six months…"

"ONE month or nothing, Stark; take it or go screw yourself with rusted iron." Her patience had packed its bag and hi-tailed it to the Florida Keys.

"Done. You better clench up, Legolas." The Man of Iron stepped and grabbed Barton by the scruff of the black and purple outfit and took off towards the top of a building. Two Avengers were gone; following Captain America's orders. It gave Starlight a sore mouth from smiles to see the sudden, commanding change in Steve. No wonder Coulson admired the man-legend-super soldier.

"Thor…" Captain America continued giving orders. "We've got to bottleneck that portal. You got the lightning, light the bastards up!"

With a nod, Thor began spinning Mjolnir around his wrist and took flight. Cool. Three Avengers off and rearing to go.

"Miss Star…" Steve turned to her.

"My codename is Starlight, Iron Starlight."

"Miss Star…if you're able; continue freezing every alien, and try to do the same with those leviathans. You've got a magical diamond? Use it anyway you can to minimalize civilian casualties and help Stark hold the perimeter."

"Got it!" She was impressed on how Steve made the connection of frozen alien blocks to her. It was probably a freaky sight to see a frozen block of alien just drop from the sky out of thin air.

"Agent Romanov; you're with me on the ground, keep the fight here and Hulk…"

The Hulk, who had been keeping his angry eyes outward while the rest of them plotted a course, whipped around and grunted; offering the still grounded Starlight a half smirk.

"…Smash!" Captain concluded. The Hulk smile made Jiru twitch with giddiness. It was totally awesome to see the famous hero in action. The man-beast-hero's chest – bare, green, muscle-bound and an apropos amount of chest hair – sent her gut smoldering with arousal. Yum.

"Need a lift, big guy?" She looked at his green face and was supremely glad her iron mask hid her blush AND that Stark was already gone.

"Starlight Girl is hot for Hulk. Hulk smells it." The bulk of man rumbled out; the scary only-if you're-the-wrong-side smirk played his lips. "Hulk too heavy for Starlight Girl to lift. Hulk smash aliens for STARLIGHT GIRL!"

With that announcement said, the Hulk LAUNCHED himself sixty stories into the air and began smashing wall-clinging aliens – best fight-moment ever.

"Miss Star…" Steve's voice snapped her attention to him. She whipped around and coughed, The man, now wearing his blue mask-hood, gave her a softer look and understanding smile. "Stick to the plan, Miss Star, don't get hurt and try not to be a Stark…"

"Ah, I heard that, Capsicle." Tony interjected via radio.

"HAHA, er, right! Aye, Aye _Mon Capitan_!" Starlight/Jiru saluted him before blasting off into the sky, firing her cryo-lasers at flying aliens; sending them clunking to the streets below – the frozen aliens would not be escaping their fate and coming back into the fight.

"Jarvis, please pull up my rock awesome playlist; I need some epicness here."

~Of course, Miss Star; what shall I begin with?~ The A.I. was just as useful to her as it was to Tony; almost thinking of things BEFORE she herself thought of them.

"Fall Out Boys; My Songs Know What You Did.'" She answered. "Then Imagine Dragons: Radioactive, followed by B.E.P., Pump It; then LMAFO, Party Anthem."

~Of course.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded like it smiled. ~Anything else you require, Miss Star?~

"Just pump the music, Jarvis!" Jiru was really lucky to land in a dimension where nearly all music was the same; with very minor differences, like some artists just didn't happen (the Tequila song wasn't in this plane; nor was Bieber – thank god.) The music started up, loud in her ears and thrummed through her veins, filling them with energy which only awesome music could imbue.

"Oh, it is SO on, you ugly f*ckers." She hissed as J.A.R.V.I.S. informed her that her apartment was just blown up. So much for minimal collateral damage.

XXX

_Helicarrier deck:_

"Director Fury, the council has made a decision…" The screens in front of Fury showed six of the nine council members' faces. They, too, had been following the shit-fest in Manhattan; and it scared them.

"Project X.I.N will handle the fallout after that." The fifth, the woman, stated. The word was out that Miss Star was indeed the test subject from the 60's and Fury was not happy the council had found out about her. The implication of using the young woman as a sponge to soak up all that radiation from nuking Manhattan was heartless - cold.

"I acknowledge that." Fury answered the council-members. "But given that is a dumbass decision, I elected to ignore it. Project X.I.N. has been placed in the Avengers Initiative and will not be used as a nuclear sponge."

"Director." the councilmen continued, ignoring Fury's profanity. "You're closer than any of our subs. You scramble that jet…" It wasn't a comment; but a stern command not to be ignored.

"I'm not nuking Manhattan!" Fury interrupted. "Until such time where I am absolutely certain my team can't hold it; I will not fix things with a nuclear bomb, councilman."

"If we don't hold them there, we'll lose."

"If we send a nuke, we've already lost." Fury concluded, shutting off transmission. So much for keeping Miss Star safe; the word was out and people knew.

"Sir, we have an unauthorized bird on deck." Maria Hill called out seconds later. "It appears your authority has been overruled by the council."

"Shut it DOWN!" Fury growled out, turning on heel and marching off the bridge, running towards the flight deck, furious.

On the flight deck, the jet prepares to take-off; Fury shoots a rocket from the launcher on his shoulder, destroying half of the jet, preventing it from flying. Fury's relief is short though, as a second bird takes off. The first one was a diversion. Fury tries to fire at it, but all he has is a hand gun. He called Stark over the radio; trudging back into the Helicarrier; grim.

"Stark? We have an unauthorized nuke coming your way."

"How long?" Stark asked calmly.

"Three minutes." Came the answer.


	33. Burning Truth

Chapter 33: Burning Truth

Virginia Potts was horrified at what she saw on the private jet's television. It had all gone to shit; and Tony was in the middle of it, like always. Pepper was torn between just sitting there staring at the live-feed news of the alien war going on in Manhattan, or succumbing to the high-level stress her body was doing its best to block; stress and concern – fear – for Tony's life.

"~Iron Man and what seems to be Iron Woman are putting forth their best efforts in dealing with the alien menace.~" The female report's voice said for the third time in ten minutes.

Pepper blinked. Iron Woman? What was Tony playing at…Oh. Pepper numbly thought; that other woman.

XXX

_Stark Towers: five days prior, evening_

_Pepper was enjoying the moment. Stark Towers was fully powered by an Arc Reactor, and Tony was bragging about his – their – genius. She was just about to sip champagne when Jarvis informed them both that Phil Coulson was trying to reach Tony. Pepper watched Tony just blew it off._

_~Sir, Agent Coulson is on the phone.~__J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted again.__~I'm afraid my security protocols are being overridden.~_

"_Stark, we need to talk."__Coulson's voice sounded tiny from the Stark Tech phone. Pepper shot Tony a glance. Sighing in frustration, Tony answered the phone. Pepper nearly scoffed in laughter as he plastered on a blank face and spoke._

"_You've reached the life-like model decoy of Tony Stark. I'm currently not interested in whatever you have to say. Leave a message, so it can be deleted."_

"_This is urgent."__ Pepper heard __Coulson reply._

"_Then leave it urgently." Tony barely finished his phrase, when Coulson stepped out of the elevator._

"_Security breach! Your fault." Tony scowled, pointing to her._

"_Ms. Stark." Coulson greeted evenly._

"_Phil! Hi, come in." Pepper exclaimed, jumped up from the couch and rushed over to greet Phil._

"_Phil?" She heard Tony growl in annoyance. "His first name is Agent. Where the hell is Superstar?!"_

"_Superstar?" Pepper had questioned, confused._

"_She's not with me; Director Fury has her."_

"_Oh Tony, please don't tell me…" Pepper turned to Tony and read his face. He had another woman. Pepper knew –KNEW – that look on his face. "It's another woman, isn't it?"_

"_Pepper, I can and will explain." Tony looked rather guilty. "I rescued her from freezing to death in the Arctic. I haven't slept with her at all. Promise. I just had to keep her because she is an alien."_

"_An alien?" Pepper was now even more flustered and confused. It was another woman, but if Tony disclaimed sleeping with her…just who was she? How the hell was she an alien?_

"_Yes, an alieness…lady alien…female." Tony rambled on, earning a glare from her. "Even her name is exotic…Jiru."_

"_We need you to look over this as soon as possible." Coulson deftly had jumped in, defusing a long drawn out conversation about other women. Phil held an electronic file holder and tried to give it to Tony._

"_I don't like being handed things…" Tony pleaded. "Unless you hand me back my Supernova."_

"_That's okay, I'll give it to him." Pepper said, with an aggravated sigh, handing Phil her champagne glass, taking the electronic pad and exchanged it for Tony's champagne glass._

"_I'd like to remind you that consulting hours are between eight and five every other Tuesday."_

"_This isn't a consultation." Coulson stated evenly._

"_Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked, mildly curious. "Which…uh…I know nothing about…"_

"_I thought the Avengers Initiative was scrapped…and I didn't even qualify."_

"_I didn't knew that either." Pepper insisted._

"_Apparently, I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others…"_

"_I do know that." Pepper nodded._

"_This isn't about personality profiles anymore…" Coulson protested._

"_I only play nice with Superstar and Pepper."_

"_Tony…" Pepper turned, her eyes tracking Tony as he ambled across the penthouse floor, to insert the electronic file into his systems. She turned to give Phil an apologetic smile and hi-tailed it over to Tony's side; wanting answers. "Tony, please don't tell me you're going to break her heart. I don't understand. Just who is she? Why is she so interesting?"_

"_Pepper, I'll show you why…" Tony answered and flicked his wrists to greatly enlarge the files she had just given him. With cutting-edge technology, holograms bloomed into being; showing screens of information and video-feeds. Six people were all there; two of them women. Pepper recognized the under-cover consultant, Natasha Romanov; Steve Rogers, Captain America; Doctor Bruce Banner, another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and Thor. The last file she did not recall; it must be the woman Tony was talking about because he enlarged the video feed._

_The young woman was plain enough. Pepper thought. Except her hair; it was the color of sea foam. The video had her in an enclosed room, and being interrogated by people with guns._

"_Is that her?" Pepper asked, her voice in her throat. She couldn't help but feel connected to the young woman now. She was so innocent and tough at the same time._

"_Yup." Tony answered, looking at every and all files, multitasking already. "Superstar fell out of a portal. She comes from another dimension."_

"_Wow. You've got a lot of homework to do." Pepper's mind whirled, overwhelmed. "I'm taking a jet to D.C. tonight…"_

"_Pepper." Tony had whined, giving her puppy-dog eyes. "I promise I'm not sleeping with Superstar; she's far too cool to sleep with. She's my shiny new toy. Did you know she has super powers?"_

"_You're so confusing Tony." Pepper sighed, resigned. If Tony was playing with a woman like that, who was she to tell him no. "However, when I get back…" She leaned in and whispered just what her devious plans were. She had to entice him to behave while she was gone._

XXX

Private jet:

So apparently Tony had not only built a suit for the young woman, but allowed her to use it. Pepper couldn't care; her inner self was shadowed over with worry and fear. Praying to the oddly hair-colored woman to keep Tony safe; Pepper only worried herself more at the thought.

XXX

_Manhattan:_

Jiru had been through enough. It was time she upped her fight-mode to the max. Picking off aliens one-one or even by the handfuls wasn't cutting it.

"Alright, J.A.R.V.I.S., time to use your god-mode. I apologize beforehand for any discomfort you'll experience by my powers."

~Miss Star…I hardly have any time to…~

The Starlight suit shot up into the air like a rocket; leaving a stream of…purified air behind.

~Miss Star…may I ask how you are doing that?~ Poor J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded so discombobulated. ~Normal rocket exhaust…~

"Neh, don't worry about it, J.A.R.V.I.S. It's just my diamond expending excess energy. It likes to purify stuff like that. I think she likes you." Starlight cleared the building tops and turned 360 degrees; letting the starburst-diamond enhanced J.A.R.V.I.S. lock onto many targets – possibly thirty or more.

"ICE IN THE HOLE!" Her suit launched forty thin, four-inch long missiles at the targets; and followed suit with another twenty. Every one of her targets was hit, and frozen in cryogenic fluid, dropping like proverbial rocks. "All right! That's much better."

"Miss Star, do you copy." Fury's voice interrupted her glee-fest.

"Oh. Hi, Fury." She answered. "What do YOU want." She spat that last part out.

"You have an unauthorized nuke coming your way."

"Huh, just swell." Starlight turned towards the ocean. "What'd you figure me to do? Eat it?"

"I want you to disable the thing, Miss Star." Fury growled back at her. "You've got three minutes."

"Ah, uh NO." Stark's voice suddenly came over the radio. "JARVIS DO NOT let her take off after that nuke. Override command Xi Beta Fishie Arc Blue. Put all power into thrusters."

~Consider it done, Sir.~

"Tony what!?..." Jiru twitched as she felt her suit's rocket system shut off like a light switch. She dropped like the frozen aliens she had shot at. Dropped straight down.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-…" She screamed as the fall sent her stomach into her throat. It felt like a rollercoaster plummet; the giddy sense of gravity suddenly packing its bags and traveling elsewhere. Jiru both loved and hated the sensation; freefalling wasn't one of her thrills – at all. It took ten seconds just fall; and she swore she'd be wedged into the concrete again. However, that didn't happen as white strands of something or rather blurted out of no-where and gave her a fall-net five stories off the ground.

"What the what!?" Although her flight rockets were nonfunctional, the rest of her suit was; and it scanned the white cords and told her it was spider-webbing. "Ohh sweet mother of pearls…"

"Hey, lady, are you ok?" a masculine voice asked. Starlight craned her head left and smiled. There, cling-sitting to the side of a building, a red and blue-costumed male looked at her through masked eyes. The person was rather scrawny and lithe, but full of muscle and the knowledge to use his unique powers. Lines of silvery-white covered the red and blue body suit; giving it the look of being covered in spider strands. Spiderman had spun a web; sweet surprise, caught her like a fly.

"Ooohhhh rock on. No WAIT, fudge buckets!" Jiru was mixed between seeing Spiderman for the first time and hating Iron Man as he zoomed overhead, heading towards the incoming nuke. "STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK! NOOOOO!"

"Lady, Lady, lady, lady; sweet eardrums in my head. Please stop screaming!" Spiderman winced, covering his red-masked covered head. "Not so loud."

"Damn it, Stark, I so pissing hate you right now. I could've done it!" the dimensional walker lowered her screaming into growling. "Hi Spidey; straight up: are your initials P.P.?"

"Uh, what?" Spiderman looked at her leerily. "Are you crazy?"

"Nope, I'm Jiru Star; you interviewed me five days ago."

"No I didn't." Spiderman denied in attempts to keep his hidden identity just that; hidden.

"Oh please, I KNOW things, Spidey…it's taking my effort not to call you Pa-."

"OK, Lady, I get the point. You know who I am." Spiderman growled; obviously not happy about it.

"My secret, ok? Ok." Starlight wriggled in the web. "Lemme go now, please? There's a nuke coming and Iron Man shut my suit down so he can play the stupid hero."

"A nuke!? Oh geez…" Spiderman sounded officially freaked out. "I…"

"Well, I'll show HIM the stupid hero…" Starlight growled to herself. "B.T.W., Spidey; I'm a huge fan; kinda."

"Oooookay." Spiderman canted his head as he perched there on the side of the building, looking at her like she was crazy; and she was.

"No worries, Spidey, you won't get any more radiated than you already are; I know what Stark is going to do."

"What?"

"Shove the nuke through the portal and blow up the alien main-ship." Starlight answered grimly. "What I'M going to do is clean this mess up, fix things, heal people and stuff. Thanks for the catch; love the web, I'm so fan-doming out right now, So here's my number; call me later, maybe. The suit's name is Starlight; not Iron Woman; you've got lots of exclusive photos, so make lots of money and go piss J.J. off for me; kay, thanks, bye."

Giving poor, masked Peter Parker no time to decipher her jumbo, the diamond in her blue Starlight suit overrode Tony's shutdown command and fired her rockets. Jiru tore out of the web-net and aimed herself at the portal. Her brain had concocted a plan, from the time Tony had shut her down to that very moment it had grown in her head; and she was going to do it no matter what.

XXX

_Spiderman's POV:_

Having done all he could to help Manhattan citizens get safely away from alien plasma fire, Peter took it upon himself to catch a quick breather; to organize his frantic thoughts. He swore to himself today would be unlike any other; aliens had invaded Manhattan, Parker had seen super heroes: Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and some dude slinging a hammer around. There was also another person; similar to Iron Man, only it was obviously female and blue and gold instead of red. Parker liked her the best; because she took care not to hit any by-standers and froze aliens in their tracks; rending them completely harmless as freak frozen blocks. Whatever damage was around her, she left it fixed. That wasn't to say it STAYED fixed, there was an alien invasion happening; but Parker gave her points for trying. Just how she fixed broken concrete was still beyond him.

So when she came plummeting from the sky; Parker couldn't help but jump into action and use his spider webbing to give her a fall net. She fell right into his web; and he exhaled with relief. It was short lived, however, when she started talking; asking him about his secret identity: it was secret for a reason, lady!

Only the lady wasn't just any female; it was the young woman Parker interviewed five days earlier: the photos he got of her earned him big bucks from Daily Bugle's payroll and Parker called it decent. She started making no sense at all; running her mouth about bombs, Iron Man playing hero and fixing stuff. Parker just let her go on her merry little way; deciding to trust the young woman about the nuke NOT exploding over Manhattan. Just what the crap she was involved in, Peter wanted no part in…if it had to do with aliens blowing up Manhattan and nuclear bombs being fired.

Turning his head upwards and watching…Starlight…fly away, Parker only shook his head and groaned; swearing off anything more troublesome than midnight muggers for the next month.

XXX

_Above Stark Tower:_

Having been saved, met and chattered with Spiderman all within a fifty second timespan – time was ticking – Starlight flew to the portal device on the tower's roof. Now that she had overcome Tony shutting down her suit – SCREW HIM – Jiru figured where to direct her anger. Romanov was already on the roof; with Loki's dumb staff in her hands. Thank god the Black Widow wore gloves. Looking around, Jiru found Selvig and the animal cage; good, those two were still alive. Turning her attention to the volatile upwards streaming of Tesseract Energy, Jiru gritted her teeth and turned her head up and up and up.

"Agent Chirpie, what are you doing here? I thought Stark shut down your flight ability." Romanov had to open her mouth.

"Stark is going to aim the nuke into the portal, Natasha, don't close it just yet. I'm going to kick his ass."

"What!?..." The Black Widow blinked, poised at the edge of the Tesseract force-field, about to shove the tip of Loki's staff through to shut the cube down.

"By the way, Phil Coulson is alive. I feel it." With that said, Jiru shot upwards, towards the open portal. Stopping three-fourths of the way up, Jiru turned all her power in analyzing the energy. She was so very close to the streaming blue fire and its humming vibrations carried through her helmet. It was so very seductive to just fly higher and go through the portal; her view gave her teasing glimpses of the stars beyond; that and three scores of aliens pouring through.

~Miss Star, I regret to inform you it would take weeks to analyze all of the Tesseract energy data.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke, its A.I. voice giving no inflection of guilt at Tony shutting her rockets off.

"Don't have weeks, J.A.R.V.I.S., only…" She paused, searching for the countdown timer through the jumble of holo-readouts in her helmet.

~One minute and thirty seconds, Miss Star. Sir has intercepted the bomb and is on his way.~

"J.A.R.V.I.S., tell…tell Tony I love him, Banner, Barton, Coulson and…Loki." She hesitated in saying the last name; but said it anyway: she couldn't deny the Trickster's choice.

~Miss Star…what are you doing?~ J.A.R.V.I.S. asked when it sensed her messing with the suit's programming.

"No offense, J.A.R.V.I.S., but I am not risking you at what I'm about to do. I'm shutting you out of my suit so you don't get Tesseract taint." J.A.R.V.I.S. didn't answer, she hadn't expected him to. She and the Starburst diamond had plotted together and the semi-sentient diamond picked up on Jiru's thought process and jumped on the plot; moving its energies about to disconnect the A.I. programming completely from the suit.

"Right then, starburst, let's do this." Starlight rubbed her metal hands together, gritted her teeth and shoved her left arm into the Tesseract stream.

'_And the humans?'_

'_What can they do but…burn!'_

Starlight screamed.

XXX

Next up: The Avengers win the day, of course, but at what price!? Does Iron Man survive the portal? Does Starlight survive the Tesseract energy? Does Thor survive the Hulk's punch? Does Captain America save people? Does Hulk save Captain America? Does Spiderman come back? Does Hawkeye kiss the girl?

Does Loki escape?


	34. Fall Out, Loki

_Chapter 34: Fall Out_

_Stark Tower:_

Loki ended up back in the penthouse room where it all started; having been thrown off one of the Chitauri battle-sleds by an exploding arrow. Barton, freed from his mind control, was now fighting once again with his comrades. The god didn't care, however; as the 'knight' served his purpose in capturing the proverbial 'queen'. The archer was fierce in his anger, aiming it at Loki when the chance presented itself. The Jotun was angry only for a moment, being flung through glass into plaster-concrete. Then the behemoth monster showed up and sent Loki's anger soaring.

"ENOUGH!" He had screamed at the titanic green beast that was posturing to threaten. The green monster had paused, seemingly amused by Loki's rage. "You are ALL beneath me! I am a God, you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by—"

The beast had the audacity to grab him anyway, slamming him back and forth on the hard, unforgiving black floor of Stark's Tower, tossing him about like a ragdoll. Loki was completely shocked, feeling every impact. The Jotun hadn't thought it possible for the laughable force of the Avengers to break through his defenses and hurt him. But the Hulk did HURT; it hurt terribly enough to undo the Chitauri's control over his mind. For the first time in eight weeks, Loki was HIMSELF; and regretted much of his recent actions – his actions in treating the one soul who had trusted him: the Starchild.

The Hulk's mind-freeing beat-down, however, left Loki in a position unable to rush to the woman's side. The god reeled with stunned amazement and sharp pain. Loki was out of the fight; but not out of the loop. He viewed as events spiraled out of control; the idiot humans sending a nuclear (yes, Loki knew about the humans' war toys) bomb in attempts to shut off the Tesseract Portal. This knowledge left the rogue god with an even less of a view of humanity. Did they not know the bomb would have NO effect on the Tesseract? It would only do more damage, piling casualties on top of what the rampant war-like Chitauri left. Not only would the portal remain open, but the only ones to survive such horrendous fallout would be himself, Thor, his Lovey and possibly the monster. Such stupidity in humans only proved further that they needed to be ruled by a ruthless fist.

The next few events astounded Loki; as the annoying Man of Iron planned to sacrifice himself to fly to bomb through the portal. The Jotun was slightly impressed, never having guessed the stuffy man of such an act. The man had used his cunning to shut down the suit he had engulfed the starchild in, disallowing her to be suicidal herself. Loki groaned to himself as he knew what was coming: his Lovey would never allow the man to kill himself in such a way; flying the nuclear bomb through the portal. Tony Stark had made an error Loki would never have: the so-called genius shoved the young woman off to the side to keep her safe, something that only would strengthen her resolve to be stupid and save the day. Which is exactly what happened.

His Lovey managed to get back into the skies and focused on the Tesseract portal. The woman then proceeded to thrust herself into the thick blue energy, drawing upon the raw power and astounded Loki to new heights. The woman actually used the Tesseract energy to boost her own power. Even though Loki wasn't able to see the whole of the Chitauri decimation of the human city, he knew it would all be erased, fixed by her hand and cleverness of mind. It happened; because the crater in which the green monster had left him in reversed itself even as the injuries upon his person healed. Green eyes watched as the damage in the building slowly stopped smoking and debris flew back into its original state of matter.

Awe stunned his mind; not even Odin could do as such; to fix such things at a molecular level and heal both surface and inner injuries at the same time. His Lovey was a goddess above any in Asgard and Nine Realms. Just how much energy did it take to pull off such a task?

Loki's awe and near-reverence was cut short as her scream pierced his ears, making him wish for…he still couldn't recall what he had thought after her death scream knifed his heart: did everyone in the city hear her? They must have, for it was thus terrible.

Thinking back, Loki could only recall rushing to her side as her body fell from the sky, through the upper floors of the human-built tower and coming to a stop on the same black marbled floor the green monster had smashed him through minutes before. The sight which greeted his eyes made Loki sick in such a way, he never wanted to experience again. He would rather kneel to the Chitauri than see her as such: the Chitauri would no doubt want to punish him for failing their plans.

The Starchild was a smoking mess of flesh, blood and bones; the pitiful man-made suit now doing more harm than protecting; acting like a carapace, keeping the heat within. Loki never felt more horrendous, more at rock bottom than that moment: the woman who had saved his soul was dying in the most horrible way possible: she was being cooked alive by Tesseract Energy.

Falling by her side and wrenching off her diamond – yes Loki knew about her powers and its source – the god was terrified of the way the jewel smoked blue; as if it was slowly becoming another Tesseract. He then used his Jotun powers to freeze her death suit, shatter it and pull her dying body out: it was as he was laying her burnt, ugly, blessed head in his lap that she awoke. Loki nearly tore his own heart out at her pain. Just how could she be conscious after being burned by the Tesseract, Loki could not fathom.

"Loki…" She had rasped out, lifting her only arm, the right one, up to his face. Her other arm was a blackened shriveled piece of stick. Loki bit his lip and leaned into her palm; feeling its heat. "Your eyes…you're back with green eyes."

"Lovey, sshhh, don't talk." He had answered her; all sense of emotion, feeling and touch in him go numb. She was never one to follow suggestions. How could she in her wounded state? Loki sighed, and had focused his magic, placing his hands on either side of her head and deftly slipping his own life force into hers, seeking out that dying spark of life in the Aither Realm. He found it and wrapped it gently in his own force, oh so carefully feeding the pale spark.

"The aliens…did we escape from them?" She had asked, her mind most likely just as burnt out as her whole left side was. The starchild didn't know what Loki was doing, where she was or even the sense of time.

"Yes, Lovey, we both slipped the Chitauri. We are on Earth; they cannot touch us here." It was truth enough, Loki knew. He cared not that the Man of Iron managed to save the city and stop the bomb from detonating on this plane. Nor did Loki care the same man had embraced Lady Luck and had fallen through the rapidly closing portal, coming back to this dimension, falling back to safety on this planet.

"Good…why can't I feel myself, Loki?" She had coughed out, not feeling the blood pour out to accompany the words. "It…hurts…"

"Ssshh, Lovey…you've been injured terribly. For that I am eternally sorry." He was. How could the Jotun have known she would enact such an astonishing feat such as plunging herself into Teseract energy; only to have it tear her apart; burning her very self. It did the same to him, only commanding his mind, twisting it to a very convoluted truth. Damn Thanos, damn the Chitauri and damn the Tesseract.

"Loki…I'm sorry…" She had gurgled out before allowing the healing sleep to claim her.

Good, with her unconscious, it was that much easier to keep feeding her fraying life-spark. Loki remained there, in the black marble floor, biting back tears of grief and rage. It was as such when the pathetic Avengers found him, with the terribly injured female in his lap. The looks on their faces brought Loki a small measure of comfort, seeing them finally terrified and full of fear. Thor began to weep for the starchild, as the loose-moral-ed man of Iron look sickened and angry. The monster remained as green as ever, trying to kill Loki with looks alone. The blonde-haired man only shook and bowed his head in sorrow as the two S.H.I.E.L.D. flunkies frowned.

"Behold, this is the price of your victory." Loki growled at them; spitting out the words. "It would have been kinder to let her deal with your so-called nuclear bomb. Are you all so full of yourselves that it had to come to this!"

"Brother…" Thor had attempted to soothe Loki's temper, but the Jotun would have none of it.

"Nay, You empty-headed oaf, no _brother_ of mine would allow a free-spirited maiden such as she to be shunted off the battlefield as she was. You've to thank your Man of Iron for that." Loki spat out his rage. "You shall not know her fate, as I plan to nurse her back to health on my own, _'Brother'_." With a snarl, Loki had smirked and teleported out of there, leaving the Avengers frantic and cursing.

XXXX

_Location: Unknown, (Somewhere in the Rockies)_

Loki stood silently on the taupe/bronze colored wood floor, staring out the smoky, imperfect bubbled windows of the remote log cabin. The insignificant pine trees beyond offered no solace, no answers and no comfort. It had been one week since losing to the Avengers, bringing the injured starchild here and caring for her. The Asgardian God preferred to replay to awful scene in his mind over and over again; it helped that it was more immediate on the digital screen sitting on the marbled counter to his left.

The human technology blathering on and on about the tragic, insane events in Manhattan; showing footage of the war, the destruction and the mysterious, miraculous miracle which restored the city back to a state of wholeness: no alien corpses, no gigantic leviathans for the humans to clean up, no injuries on anyone - sure there were casualties; humans did die – his Starchild couldn't save everyone nor bring back the dead.

One week of painstaking waiting and tending to her horrible burns. Loki counted it lucky to find some remaining brainwashed flunkies in which S.H.I.E.L.D. had yet to flush out. Five men from Loki's first round of brainwashing answered his call and came bearing supplies and a hide-away. It had taken all of them to stabilize the young woman enough to allow Loki to withdraw his life-sustaining magic.

Now his Lovey remained in the comfortable bed in a magic-induced sleep, recovering from her injuries. Loki dreaded the moment she awoke, only to be drugged into stupidity. It would be far kinder to dull her senses instead of her being sharp enough to figure out the extent of the damage. The Jotun grimaced in disgust upon thinking of her loss: the men had to completely remove her left arm, from the shoulder down – the stupid girl just had to do what she did; leaving Loki to figure out how to lessen the impact of the consequence on her body. She would most likely slide into a state of craziness when she found out. The event did not please Loki at all. Thankfully, he had kept his Lovey dull-sensed, allowing her body to focus all its energy on both healing and recovering from the burn-fever.

Hissing to himself, Loki turned on heel and stalked the length of the quaint log-cabin. The place suited Loki's purposes to an extent; as it was far remote from the bustle of humanity – a paltry town ten miles away with a population of five-hundred or so people. The cabin, sitting on the cusp of a lower-lying mountain peak, was tucked away behind a tall-grass field and flanked by pine and maple forests. The coloring of the naturally made abode was neutral enough to not stand out as painted; in fact none of it was painted, leaving a certain primal, look of raw, hewn wood. The outer layering of the cabin was made of pinewood still retaining its bark; while the inner shell was cozily fitted with a strong, sturdy maple, dry-wood, tile and caulking – a few of Loki's men explained the materials to the Jotun as they all worked in shifts to care for the young woman.

Plush maroon carpeting filled five of the ten rooms within, three retained the highly polished pinewood as flooring while the remaining two rooms had tile. The upper level held another five rooms; three of which were for sleeping in, one a cleaning and relieving one's bowels, and the fifth for whatever was needed of it. The cabin, although not even close to Loki's standard of comfort, suited immediate needs. Loki chose a room near the lower level's 'shower and bathroom' to house his injured starchild; incase her burn fever returned. Loki would need to place her in the long, low-quality tub to cool her down.

Her burn fever had just broken last night and Loki found it to send the five men on exterior tasks; such as restocking supplies and reconnaissance. It was a high-risk move, since Loki had no doubt S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as his so-called brother Thor, would be searching for them. Teleporting fifteen times would throw Loki's avid pursuers off track and give the Jotun time to care for the starchild. Just how much time Loki had, he did not know.

Now that the starchild's fever had broken, Loki figured out he had extra enough time. Time to plan and time to secure more this hide-away so that S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't/wouldn't find them.

Coming to a stop infront of the starchild's room, Loki's brain was whirling with plots, plans and things-needed-to-be-done. He almost didn't catch the sounds which came from the room.

"Lo-ki?"


	35. Fall Out, Iron Man

_Chapter 35: Fall Out, Iron Man_

_Stark Towers: One Week After Chitauri Invasion_

_Pepper Potts_

"GOD DAMN IT, JARVIS, JUST FIND HER!"

Pepper sighed and lowered her data-pad, looking towards the hallway ahead. Tony's voice could be heard bellowing through the lab's walls and it came loaded with anger, aggression and exhaustion. Pepper begrudged him not; and was slightly still mad at him for scaring her – once more – half to death with his participation in the alien invasion. Virginia felt another seed of a headache, and refused to think about any of that; focusing on the here and now. Sure Tony nearly died – AGAIN – but he was safe and in one piece now. Now was the thing that mattered. Potts refused to reminisce in the craziness of the whole invasion: but had no choice; since the Public Relations part of Stark Enterprises was chock full of the press; wanting to know…TO KNOW… exactly what happened and just who the hell managed to fix the city again.

That was one thing Pepper's mind still boggled at: the city – minus hundreds of pounds of glass – looked nothing like it had just went through an alien invasion. The buildings were the same; unbroken, whole and untarnished. The only solid evidence of the alien invasion was the insane piles of glass, shattered throughout the city; that and human casualties. Those people who had been – SWORE – injured weren't. They were either dead or alive; not much in between, in regards to injuries sustained by alien crossfire.

Another lack of evidence was the aliens themselves; of them and their materials, nothing remained. Along with the unbroken city, nothing remained of the alien invasion but people's memories, stories, pictures, videos and encounters. It did happen; just nothing tangible was there to give proof. It was just as well, Pepper thought. Who knew what kind of trouble the populace would stir up if it got its hands on aliens or its technology.

Pepper stopped walking and sighed, leaning against the cool metallic walls of the hallway, bringing a hand up to her forehead. The whole month; Pepper hated the whole month, well half of it anyway – the half where Tony was an Avenger and flew a bomb through an alien portal.

The other huge deal was the young woman. And Phil Coulson. From what she could decipher, Phillip Coulson had faced down the Nordic God Loki and nearly paid for it with his life. Pepper would have mourned the man, yes; he was a good friend and confidante. From what Virginia could figure out, the young woman who Tony was so obsessed about saved the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent from death.

Now that same woman was gone, and Tony, along with the so-called new friends, the Avengers, were all frantic to find her…and Loki. Jiru Star. Pepper couldn't help but feel for the woman, having seen the security cams of her and Loki. The mad, insane man struck her across the face a few times, and abuse never sat well with Pepper. Tony refused to show the rest of what security picked up of the woman, stating it would be best if the footage never saw the light of day. It was bad if Pepper couldn't see it.

"Tony, I suggest you quit and rest for a while." A new voice calmed the raging growls coming from the lab, and Pepper pushed herself off the alluring cool wall and entered the lab. "Loki wouldn't teleport her away if he just planned to kill her."

"Screw you, Jolly Green." Tony's response came, as sharp as a knife. "Reindeer Games has her and God only know what he's doing to her…"

"Tony…" Bruce Banner's voice was calm, smooth and cool. Pepper felt for the quiet, introverted physicist; he had been dragged into Stark Towers under friendly overtures; coming with Tony to help with tracking down the missing young woman who was an enigma to Pepper.

"He's right, Tony, you need to stop and get some rest." She spoke up as her eyes groaned at what greeted her upon entering the restricted room.

It was a mad-house mess; as worse as Pepper could ever remember Tony being when he got into one of his phases. Everything and anything from wrenches, to pieces of the Iron Man suit, the Starlight Suits, computer innards, screens, paper, metal, foam packaging, cardboard boxes and large crumpled sheets that were hand-drawn plans were strewn over the place. The tables held food in all stages of use, several coffee mugs and foam cups, along with gutted phones, computers and even another blue suit; only in shattered remains. The room's center held a fire-hydrant sized piece of machinery, looking more like a technological-style jewel display podium. Wires, cables and other unknown cords spurted from the machine like a spider web, plugging into who knew what. The three prongs held a quarter-sized diamond – and Pepper's heart twinged every time she saw it; the thing was absolutely exquisite and beautiful. Supposedly, the diamond belonged to the young woman, and held the power of several super novae. Again, her mind was boggled.

Tony, however, looked much worse. The shadow-bags under his eyes were dark and heavy, belying the fact the ten, fifteen cups of coffee were completely useless.

"Oh God, Tony, when's the last time you've slept!?" Pepper cried out, nearly dropping the data-pad she was working on. She wanted to rush over to his side and hold him. The only thing holding her back was the room's complete and utter mess.

"Pepper…Pepper." He turned to her and away from a computer he was programming.

~Sir has not slept in fifty hours, Miss Potts.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. answered her. ~He has, however, eaten, drunk twenty cups of coffee and taken frequent restroom breaks.~

"Thanks a lot, Jarv, now go find Superstar." Tony snarled, taking another large swig of coffee. Pepper narrowed her eyes and turned to the second man in the room.

"Bruce…" Pepper pleaded.

"Miss Potts, I've tried everything short of turning into the Other Guy…" Banner looked haggard himself; sleep-deprived and sagging of posture. The poor man could barely stay seated in the chair. Pepper did know of Banner's other side, and wasn't quite sure what to think of that. "He will not sleep."

"That's it, Tony. I'm calling Rhodey." She lifted the data-pad and dialed a number. Tony, however, just took another drink of black stimulant and turned back to the computer.

"Don't care, Pep, I gotta find her. She saved my life, I'm not letting Reindeer Games take her."

"Oh, Tony…" Pepper sighed sadly. "I know she saved your life, and for that I am grateful. However you cannot keep doing this; you need to sleep."

The blue-eyed billionaire finished that cup of coffee and jerked to his feet, caring not that his steps crunched stuff as he crossed to stand in front of Pepper.

"I can't, Pep. She's hurting, scared and Loki has her. I'd do the same if it were you, Pep. That's why I have to do this."

Sighing with great sorrow and stress, ignoring Doctor Banner and the lab's complete terror of a mess, she reached out and drew Tony to her shoulder. He relented, letting Pepper feel his tense body relax, nearly melting in her hug.

"I know, Tony, I know how much she means to you. I was angry and jealous at first; but now I'm just as worried as you are. It's like…she completes you in ways I couldn't imagine."

"Pepper…" Tony whined, trying to pull away.

"No, Tony, I understand this relationship has turned into a triangle. I won't ask you to choose between her and me. You've got us both." It was the truth. Pepper had read as much about the young woman as she could and came to a conclusion of acceptance: Jiru Star was someone special to every one of the Avengers; and Tony. It was like the woman wove happiness in those she deemed worthy: and Tony had been the first.

"Pepper…" Tony moaned, sagging in her arms. "I have to find her…I was going to adopt her…" Catching a glance from Banner, Pepper lifted her brow. That was something new. Banner just shrugged and shuffled out of the room, leaving the two to themselves.

"Oh Tony…"

XXX

_Tony Stark_

Anthony Edward Stark was as furious as he had ever known: angrier than he had been at Obadiah Stane when the snaky bald-headed con-man had started selling Stark weapons under the table and nearly killed him AND Pepper after creating a mock-off of the an early Iron Man suit; angrier than when the world had proved him wrong and bitch-slapped him in the face in the form of Whiplash; Ivan Vanko - that bastard had used stolen Stark technology to screw the world and Tony over - ; and angrier than when Coulson and Fury decided to steal his new-found Superstar and stick her in the middle of a fucking insane god-fest. No; as of right now, Tony Stark was as angry as a…there had yet to be an analogy invented for just how pissed Tony was.

Loki had his Superstar and nobody: not, Thor, nor S.H.I.E.L.D., nor Reed Richards, and not even himself and Banner's scientific brains together had a way of finding the young woman. It was like the two people had vanished off the face of the earth.

"GOD DAMN IT, J.A.R.V.I.S. JUST FIND HER!" Tony bellowed again and hurled the nano-board he was trying to install across the room. It flew through the air like a shuriken and embedded itself into the poor glass panel that just so happened to be the ending trajectory.

~I have been trying, Sir.~ The poor, abused A.I. responded; showing no inflection of being abused. ~I've focused all additional systems in scanning the world for Miss Star's location. Stark Enterprises systems' is at an all time low minimum processing speed. All other locations have been shut down and converted to assist in the search. I will admit, however; that I sorely miss Miss Star's God-mode setting. I have not the processing speed to analyze the data collected during the fight, Sir.~

"F*ck." Tony simply replied and glared at his newest lab-assistant. Doctor Bruce Banner had been kind – hapless – enough to join Tony after the Avengers had drifted apart – one week back. Everybody had cursed and railed when Loki slipped from their grasp like water through hands. Each Avenger had sworn right there, in Tony's penthouse suite that they would never rest until Loki and Superstar were found. Banner went with Stark; while Romanov and Barton took Thor and Rogers back to the Helicarrier to tell old One-Eye everything that went down in the Alien Invasion. Stark cared jack-shit about Fury then and even now; and pitied not the hoops S.H.I.E.L.D. had to jump through to explain to the world just how the city – which had just gone through an alien invasion – managed to be whole again (minus the glass) and its civilians safe and healed.

No, Tony wasted not one ounce of feeling for their monumental task. Sure the secretive Avengers Initiative had been blown wide open, and sure the world now knew it wasn't alone in the universe; but Tony DID NOT CARE.

XX

_Tony's Flashback:_

"_Miss Star, do you copy." Tony heard Fury's voice come over the radio._

"_Oh. Hi, Fury." Superstar had answered. "What do YOU want."_

"_You have an unauthorized nuke coming your way."_

_Tony mentally cursed, his brain racing to solve the barely unrevealed puzzle. Nukes never were good._

"_Huh, just swell. What'd you figure me to do? Eat it?" His Superstar joked; causing him to smile._

"_I want you to disable the thing, Miss Star." Fury growled his answer. "You've got three minutes. Be my ace in the hole." Well shit._

"_Ah, uh NO." He suddenly cut in. Having been on the ground on a war-torn street, half-focused on playing shoot-em-up-aliens, Stark solved the puzzle: Fury wanted his Superstar to intervene a deadly nuclear bomb. Only thing was, Tony wasn't about to let THAT pile of shit happen. He almost panicked before remembering the fail-safe override command he had slipped into the Starlight suit of which his Superstar was now wearing. There was no way in HELL, HEAVEN or EARTH Tony was going to let Superstar 'Pull a Stark'._

"_J.A.R.V.I.S. DO NOT let her take off after that nuke. Override command: Xi Beta Fishie Arc Blue. Put all power into thrusters."_

_~Consider it done, Sir.~ the A.I. responded as Tony's repulsors shot Iron Man into the sky; shaking off the clinging alien scum. Superstar's response was right out of the book; with curses lighting his ears up like fireworks._

"_Sorry, Sparkles, but you're sitting this one out." Tony stated firmly. "Leave the 'Pulling A Stark' to a Stark."_

_Tony had shut off communication with her as his suit – as banged up as it was – roared off towards the incoming bomb. Half a minute later, roaring under a Manhattan bridge, Tony managed to attach himself to the bomb; FINALLY making a plan. Now that he was away from the skyscrapers; Stark viewed the portal and instantly knew where to direct the bomb._

"_Well, screw me ten ways to Sunday." He had muttered to himself. It was a Stark nuke, and as such, as bad a bomb as it came. The thing could turn director on a dime, and Tony knew he had to commit full-throttle._

"_Does anybody copy?" Stark heard Romanov over the radio. "I can close it! I can close the portal."_

"_Then do it!"__Capsicle's voice ordered back._

"_No!"__He shouted over the order. "Ix-nay on the order, Red. __There's a nuke coming. I know exactly where to put it…"_

"_Stark."__Steve Rogers speaks to him now. "__It's a one-way trip. You know that, right?"_

"_Save it, Cap." Stark had quipped. "Jarvis, reserve the rest for the way back, would ya?"_

_~Sir…~__J.A.R.V.I.S. asked.__~Would you like me to contact Ms. Potts?~_

"…_might as well." Stark answered quietly; just realizing the implications. It WAS a one-way trip, no time to let go of the bomb as it could turn on him in an instant. "Also patch me in to Superstar…"_

_~Ah, Sir, about her…~ Jarvis sounded contrite and mournful. ~She has used her starburst diamond to completely lock me out of her suit. I have lost all and any contact. Connection cannot be reestablished. She wishes you to know she loves you, Barton, Coulson, Banner and Loki."_

"_Well, damn…" Tony had no time to do anything about that as he and the bomb raced closer to Stark Tower. Then he saw just what the crap was happening. His beloved shining star was 'Pulling a Stark' and had her arm in the thick of blue burning Tesseract energy. The only thing Tony could do was work his rockets and curve him and the nuke upward towards the open portal; vaguely aware of aliens and their leviathans being sucked back into the gaping hole._

"_All clear, Tony, all clear…" a static-y distant voice of his Superstar echoed into his comm., and Tony grunted as he flew inches by the blue Starlight suit, nearly scrapping the back of it. The thrill was incredible and then he and the bomb were through the portal._

_Inside the portal, in outer space, Stark see, speechless, the alien-mother ship, triple the size of god knew what. The starry scape behind it was ignored as Tony flew closer._

_~Sir, I cann—~__JARVIS shuts off together with Stark's armor. The energy's gone; the Arc Reactor no longer functioned in the dead of space. That should be fixed. Tony thought._

_Stark let go of the missile, and watched silently as it collided with the mother ship, wrapping it in a huge ball of fire. He closes his eyes, embracing the cold of space; embracing the coldness of death; thinking of the two women in his life and how he should he told them how he felt._

XX

Thinking back, Tony now wished he had allowed his Superstar to ride the bomb like he did. Sure it would have killed him to let her do so; but she would have survived; sinking back down through the closing portal into Earth's gravitic embrace, just barely being saved as the brush of Lady Luck yanked her through the portal like it did Tony.

So many wishes to change so much of what happened; Tony's mind refused to think of the sights his revived eyes allowed him to see. The Hulk had caught Tony as he fell and saved his life. He owed Banner for that, but had rather be unconscious than to see the condition of his Superstar afterwards.

Rogers had briefly given him, Thor and Banner the sit-rep. It appeared that Miss Star had taken it upon herself to play a hero and fix the city; bringing it back to its prior state before the aliens poured out of the portal. Stark had rather wondered why the damned city looked so clean and whole; showing nothing but broken glass in response to the damned war the Avengers had just won: no aliens; no fires, no leviathan corpses and no massive wide-spread damage. His Superstar had fixed it all; healing civilians, remaking buildings and shoving the aliens back into the portal before it closed. Thor just had to mention that their fight was not yet done: Loki was still loose and he was one last thread to tie up before Tony took them all out to Shawarma.

They ALL needed Shawarma after dealing with Loki and the horrible scene. Superstar was cooked…Tony refused to think about the bloody scene his Superstar was in.

"Tony, I suggest you quit and rest for a while." Banner's voice cut through Stark's morbid memories. "Loki wouldn't teleport her away if he just planned to kill her."

"Screw you, Jolly Green." Stark whipped his head at Banner and scowled. "The insane psychopath has her and God only know what he's doing to her…"

"Tony…" Bruce Banner's voice was calm, smooth and cool. Tony sighed, tensing his muscles trying NOT to snap at the other mind that was helping.

"He's right, Tony, you need to stop and get some rest." Pepper's voice was a balm on Tony's flared nerves, making him feel guilty and relieved at the same time.

"Pepper…Pepper, Pepper." He clucked, turning away from the computer screen. Stark was supremely relieved nothing had happened to Pepper during the whole incident. The beating she gave him was completely worth it. The muscles on his neck still ached.

~Sir has not slept in fifty hours, Miss Potts.~ J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke. ~He has, however, eaten, drunk twenty cups of coffee and taken frequent restroom breaks.~

"Traitor, Jarvis."

"That's it; I'm calling Rhodey, Tony. You cannot keep doing this to yourself…to us." Pepper was right. It pouring all his energy in searching for the young woman, he hadn't met the quota of time he swore he would spend with Pepper.

"Pepper, I cannot just give up on looking for her. What if I sleep and something goes wrong in the searching algorithm and misses something!?" The billionaire stood up and crossed over the mess he made in the wide room and found himself – somehow – in Pepper's arms.

"Oh, Tony…" Pepper sighed sadly. "I know she saved your life, and for that I am grateful. However you cannot keep doing this; you need to sleep."

"I can't, Pep. She's hurting, scared and Loki has her. I'd do the same if it were you, Pep. That's why I have to do this."

"I know, Tony, I know how much she means to you. I was angry and jealous at first; but now I'm just as worried as you are. It's like…she completes you in ways I couldn't imagine."

"Pepper…" Tony gasped, trying to pull away. Pepper was NOT going to break up with him: he would just shatter.

"No, Tony, I understand this relationship has turned into a triangle. I won't ask you to choose between her and me. You've got us both." It was the truth. The genius saw it in her eyes and that, more than anything else helped.

"Oh Pepper…" Tony moaned, sagging in her arms. "I didn't know how to bring the subject up."

"Oh Tony…" He heard Pepper sigh and hug him. "We can talk about it later, but for now; sleep. I swear to you, Tony, we will find her together."

XXX

Author's note:

Thanks to all those who read and follow; this story is still going strong and I am so thrilled.

Please read and leave reviews: I love reviews.


	36. Fall Out, SHIELD

_Chapter 36: Fall Out, S.H.I.E.L.D._

_Helicarrier:_

Fury sighed to himself and brought both hands to his face in hopes he could just make the piling problems staring him down point blank vanish. It wasn't so much as the crap-ton of problems and things needed done, as for the damned fall out of the alien invasion – something S.H.I.E.L.D. had meant to prevent. Problems and shadow-work at this volume was cake-walk for Fury, and dealing with alien invasions provided a nice challenge, but having nothing to go by in the search for the most recent psycho-maniac was giving the Director a migraine.

Two weeks and Loki was still missing. Him and a certain young woman who had enough influence on several men Fury worked with. It was almost like the damned woman was a siren, luring men off to their doom.

"Sir, I know this isn't the best of times to say something, but I have to share." Across the room Agent Maria J. Hill spoke softly, treading lightly.

"Yes, Agent Hill?" Fury remained seated in the office room, where the desk before him held volumes of paperwork. The tall, steel-sharp woman stopped in the doorway and knocked politely.

"We've found the woman."

"Then why wasn't I informed?" Fury glared curiously at the lack of emotional response. "Is Loki with her?"

"No, sir, he isn't." Hill stood at attention, hands clasped behind her back. "We've indeed found the young woman, however it's not her."

"Explain?" the Director brought his hands down. Nick did not feel like playing mind games at this time.

"I agree with Tracker Team that the young woman is THIS dimension's version of Miss Star."

"Oh god, just what I wanted to hear; you mean this world has TWO of her?"

"Yes sir." Hill responded plainly. "I've come to ask you, Sir, if I can give the order for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to extract her and bring her in."

"No, Agent Hill. I do not want to meet another Miss Star at this point in time."

"Her name is Rebekka Jillian Booksman, Sir."

"I do not CARE what her name is, Maria, I want JIRU STAR found, hopefully with Loki nearby so we can end this sh*t-fest of a goose chase and close this clusterf*ck up once and for all. Because I swear if Stark tries to hack our files one more time…"

"Understood sir." Hill was on the same mindset as the director and knew what he wanted. "I'm placing a team of two to watch her for the time being; there might be trouble heading her way because her facial profile is a dead-match for Miss Star. Only Miss Booksman has black hair instead of cyan."

"Very well, carry on."

"Yes sir." Agent Hill nodded once and was gone, leaving Fury to his thoughts.

Fury wanted the month to be done with; and even the year – dealing with alien war in December really wasn't something he personally wanted to experience. The council was breathing down his neck, Stark was continuously trying to hack S.H.I.E.L.D. files in hopes for finding anything pertaining to the dimensional walker, and his Avengers had drifted away, each probably on their own searching for Loki and the dimensional walker.

Although, Nick thought, with the Avengers Initiative in place, other S.H.I.E.L.D. sources were making contact, wanting to join, tear down or learn about the team. Reed Richards and his band of super-power enhanced misfits had helped Fury out tons; jumping on board with him in containing the mass-hysteria that was the aftermath of alien invasions. The Fantastic Four provided a damned blessed buffer and public face, saving S.H.I.E.L.D. from Public Relation backlash. Professor Charles Francis Xavier had contacted Fury personally and Nick educated the man, bringing the closet-mutant up to speed about the Alien invasion and Avengers. No words were needed, thankfully, as the mutant telepath accessed the information from Fury's mind – with permission of course.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s contact in Wakanda, the world's secret leading source of the metal Vibranium, kept its channels open, incase Fury needed anything from that side of the world. A few other targets of which S.H.I.E.L.D. kept an eye on had made connections also; offering their help - Henry Pym and his wife Janet Van Dyn, Doctor Stephen Strange, Carol Danvers and Nick's personal contact under the sea.

It helped Nick to have such support, even if the world never found out. Fury would rest easier at night to have defenses in place when Shield was dealing with the Chitauri cleanup. Not that where was much to _clean_ up, not after the insane stunt the dimensional walker pulled. Nick Fury had seen the footage of the aftermath, and it still sat like poison on his mind. He wasn't one to feel sentimental or horrified – not in his line of work – but watching the confiscated STARK security vid nearly made Fury hurl his lunch. Nick still swore the woman had 'glamoured' him into liking her; because his being fond of such a preposterous scatter-brained young woman was still a mystery to him. But fond of her Fury was, and he had to deal with it.

"Director Fury, sir." Came the voice of an agent who was supposed to be on the non-active roster.

"Agent Coulson, I am giving up on ordering you to stay at home and do nothing." The one-eyed man growled tiredly and pulled his hands away from his face where they had once again wandered to. Phil Coulson stepped into the office, looking as right as rain.

"I did tell you I will not rest until Miss Star is found." The sandy-haired agent replied evenly as the work-suited man tilted his head curiously to the side. "I do recall you reading the medical reports, sir, and the writing clearly states there is not a scratch on my heart or chest. You cannot stop me from finding her."

"For a dead man, you sure have an attitude." Fury glared half-heartedly at Phil. "I didn't know Medical bay released you yet."

"They didn't. I got out on my own." The sandy-haired agent looked like his normal, kick-ass calm self; not a man dealing with miraculously coming back from the dead. "I've also researched some…unconventional means of tracking for her; Director Fury, sir."

Letting out a growling snort, Fury lazily stood up and stretched. If Coulson was well enough to put a full-tilt effort in RE-tracking Miss Star AND Loki, then Nick wasn't about to stop him. The Director would, however, have to discuss Phil's new level of obsession in the young woman. If it was anything like what Coulson had over Captain America; it would be bad.

"Enlighten me."

"I can do better, sir, I've brought the very person who is best qualified to track…her unique energy signature." The black-suited agent nodded slightly and stepped aside. "Doctor Stephen Strange is very interested in the young woman's mystical signature."

The man who stepped into the room was none other than Nick's old friend. The black hair of the mystic-wielding sorcerer had two white stripes on either side of his temples, and it was the same with the man's goatee. Strange's current clothing wasn't the dark black and red uniform described as the Sorcerer Supreme; but jeans and a dark green shirt which did little to hide the man's buff, compact chest muscles.

"Strange, what the hell are you doing here?" Nick scowled. Just what he needed; somebody else who would discover and exploit Miss Star's secrets. What the hell; why not?

"Fury." Stephen Strange nodded politely and smiled. "I've heard everything I need to from Phillip, Nick. I am most interested in the young woman who single-handedly saved Manhattan billions of dollars."

"Yea, get in line of people who wanna meet THAT can of worms." Nick glared daggers at Coulson, but not faulting the man for using S.H.I.E.L.D. resources.

"Nick, I can promise you that I will not do anything that would hurt S.H.I.E.L.D. My analysis of the energies coming from both the Tesseract and the Starburst diamond is just the tip of the needle. If I can train the young woman; she can possibly control both her internal energies and quite possibly the Tesseract."

"Not happening, Strange. Once we find Loki; I'm letting Thor take the damned cube. It's too much of a goldmine having two alien artifacts just sitting around doing nothing; everybody and their sister would take a potshot at obtaining both."

"I understand, Nick; but are you planning to send the young woman with the Tesseract as well?"

A silent pause was Fury's answer.

"Well then, I suggest you are prepared to hear my plan in assisting in hiding the young woman's energies: if I can still feel them vibrating in Manhattan; then others can as well."

"Well, why the hell not, Stephen, I'd be glad to hear the options." Fury finally gave a thin smile and sat back down.

XXX

_Undisclosed Location: 3 weeks after the Chitauri Invasion_

"Tasha, I've got a huge raging…" Barton blurted out as he sat across from his red-haired partner.

"Clint; don't, just don't. Not here." The woman's eyes flickered over at her partner and back to the screen in front of the grey-walled room.

The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had been sitting around for three weeks getting interrogated by useless superiors; pointless bureaucrats trying their best to find out every little thing about the presumed 'dead' Avenger, Iron Starlight. Sure the stupid people inquired about the rest of the so-called 'Avengers' and trying to find a chink in their armor of official story. But Hawkeye and Black Widow stuck to their guns and repeated the same thing Fury authorized them to disclose: The Avengers went into a fight with aliens, in the middle of Manhattan, and fought until the dangerous portal was closed. There were casualties; civilians, soldier and Avenger. The masked female known as Iron Starlight had sacrificed her life to not only return the aliens back where they came from; but to repair the damage that was wrought and heal any person who was injured via alien attacks. It was better for the world to know that kind of power was dead and gone.

S.H.I.E.L.D. knew differently though, and even Romanov was stunned to know how different. She and Barton both constantly had their thoughts on the missing young woman who was prisoner of Loki - wherever that bastard was.

"Sir, Ma'am." Romanov found the repetitive questions coming from the video feeds now so very inane. "Your thirty minutes of meeting time is over. If you wish to continue to ask questions; feel free to leave your name and contact number with the apropos contact and I'm sure Director Fury will eventually get back to you." Standing up and nodding to the flustered politics, Natasha signaled to Barton and turned on heel to leave the room.

"Tasha, I can't get her out of my head; she's in there worse than Loki was." Barton finally spoke up as she finally made it their bunk on the Helicarrier.

"I know, Barton. You've got to tell Fury how bad you have it."

"I will Tasha, you can bet on that." Barton glowered at the door.

"Clint, we will get her back; just like she said I'd get you back. I trust her not to throw in with Loki." Natasha stepped closer to her partner and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"That's not what I'm compromised about, 'Tash." Barton pulled his head away from the cold metal wall to look at her. "It's the things Loki told me about her."

"So you finally want to tell me?" Romanov knew Barton was still kicking his own ass about being compromised, but never really explained just how affected he was by his time under Loki's influence.

"Hell, I might as well; I'm so sick of having a massive raging boner for her it might help to talk."

"It's that bad?" Natasha quirked a brow and opened the door. "Should I not trust Agent Chirpie anymore, Barton?"

"No, yes…Loki indicated she's a succubus, thriving on sexual….I don't KNOW Natasha." Hawkeye threw his hands up and stormed into the room. "I don't know anything about her anymore, and don't know if I should kill or ride her like there's no tomorrow."

The red-headed spy didn't flinch at Barton's course language and walked over to pull something out from her duffel bag. "Well you're not the only one, Barton, look at these read outs."

Handing the data-pad to her partner, she spoke on. "You're not the only one with those feelings towards her. Stark and Banner mentioned something along the same lines as you."

"What?" Clint's face changed into confusion. "What am I looking at here, Tash?"

"The energy patterns of the…starburst diamond are also being found in Stark and Banner's DNA samples." Romanov didn't need to mention the fact that each of the Avengers – minus the kidnapped Jiru Star – had to undergo quarantine tests; which included drawing blood. "You're blood is also emitting the same energy. Barton, the woman has compromised us all."

"What the hell!?" The archer's eyes turned into flint and snapped up into hers. "Coulson is compromised!? She SAVED HIS LIFE!"

"I know." Romanov said softly. "Fury is hesitant to say anything, but I'm betting to admit this is some kind of virus. Agent Chirpie may or may not be poisonous to people on this planet. She is an alien."

"Natasha…" Barton looked torn at the new information. His feelings for the young woman now clashed with his sensibilities: the dimensional walker infected all of them with…with what? I raging sex drive aimed at her? An erotic haze that clouded the mind? A primal urge; so loaded with lust that it was so hard to see through?

"Clint. We're working on finding a cure or something to nullify the effects. It's not going to be easy, but S.H.I.E.L.D. will find a solution."

"Does anyone else know about this?" Barton lowered the data pad and stared at Romanov.

"No, only a handful of Level Seven know, and with what's happened to all the X.I.N. files disappearing, it's difficult to progress."

"Natasha, I want to get through this, I hate thinking of her…"

"Sssshhh, it's ok, Barton, I'm here…we'll get through this together." Natasha smiled gently. "Just tell me how I can help."

XXXX

Author's note:

Sorry if this chapter sucked dirt; I could have done much better; but my mind is everywhere but in 'Avengers' mode. I'm excited to do the next five chapters; but NEED to do the rest of Avengers Fall-out; which include the thoughts of Steve Rogers, Coulson, Thor and Banner.

Next up: Steve thinks on why he shouldn't fear Jiru Star, Thor puzzles out just why Loki did what he did and Banner takes a vacation.


End file.
